‘License plate readers’ coming to Wayne County?

Technology would help fight growing car-theft trend

By FRITZ MAYER

HONESDALE, PA — The population in Wayne County is growing, and an increase in crime is inevitable. According to district attorney Michael Lehutsky, one of the problem areas is an increase in car thefts.

“Not because of organized rings,” he said, “but simply because more people are moving to the area.”

One way for law enforcement officers to fight car theft is with “license plate recognition” technology. This is the same kind of technology that allows cars to pass swiftly through the EZ Pass lanes on the New York State Thruway, and the kind that has been put into use in New York City to photograph the license plates of folks who run red lights.

With a license plate reader, a trooper could go into a parking lot and determine, almost instantly, whether any vehicle in the lot has been stolen. Without the camera, the process would take considerably longer. Some models work on highways at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour.

But the cameras are expensive. Lehutsky hopes that the county may get access to a license-reading camera by joining forces with the Northeast Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud and Automobile Task Force. Last week, Lehutsky asked the Wayne County Commissioners for permission to team up with the task force.

Paul Peterson, an assistant district attorney from neighboring Lackawanna County, a member of the task force, explained that the camera would be linked to the National Crime Information System (NCIC).

The NCIC is a database of documented criminal justice information available to criminal justice agencies nationwide. It helps law enforcement agencies apprehend fugitives, locate missing persons and recover stolen property. During 2005, the NCIC processed an average of 4.5 million daily transactions, with various criminal justice departments around the country.

State police departments on both sides of the Delaware River are exploring the use of cameras that can read license plates. Pennsylvania started looking into the cameras last year.

New York currently has some 15 such cameras in use around the state. Sullivan County Under Sheriff Eric Chaboty said that officers who operate the cameras take a disk with them into the field. The disk is updated every day, and contains information about cars that have been stolen, that have expired tags and registrations or are registered to drivers with suspended licenses.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has been testing a system called Mobile Plate Hunter 900. One night last summer, the system was used to read over 12,000 license plates, which led to seven stolen car recoveries.

But not everyone is happy about the growing number of cameras.

Ricardo Garcia of the ACLU of Southern California recently said, “These cameras eliminate the reasonable suspicion officers usually have to stop a car. Officers will assume a vehicle is stolen if the computer tells them so.”

Supporters of the technology counter that the cameras take the matter away from the personal prejudices of the police officer because the cameras can run every plate to see if any car on a particular stretch of road is stolen.