Plate-reading tech aims to cut crime

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It won't replace the officer on the beat, but the Grand Rapids Police Department is trying out a high-tech system that reads license plates as an officer drives down the street.

The system will put a few extra sets of eyes on the road -- and maybe help the city recoup some money.

There's some pretty obvious advantages when it comes to officer safety and crime fighting to this new technology. But it also may help a chronic problem involving people who don't pay their parking tickets.

The average police officer runs anywhere from 50 to 100 license plates per shift. The LPR -- or license plate information system -- can run 5,000 plates per shift.  
 
With plenty of work to be done and fewer officers to do it, this is one of the ways GRPD is looking for new efficiencies.

"Previously, we would have had to stop by each vehicle, manually type in that plate, which is where the efficiency comes in," explained GRPD Sgt. Geoff Collard, who is participating in the testing phase of the technology.

The computer is tied to various data bases that can flag a license plate tied to a crime. It's also set up to flag vehicles with overdue parking fines.

The city writes off about $400,000 a year in unpaid parking tickets meant to help fund fund 61st District Court. The City's tight General Fund, which pays for major services like police and fire, ends up making up the difference.

While Parking Enforcement looks for scofflaws, the new technology can do it a lot faster.

In one month of testing, the camera systems -- which run anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000 per unit -- showed a lot of promise.

"Had we actually been seizing those vehicles or picking up the offenders, we would have recovered probably $12,000 to $15,000 in parking fines," said Capt. Dave Kiddle, who's in charge of testing the new system.

GRPD hasn't yet acted on any of its findings -- meaning it hasn't recouped any unpaid traffic fines -- because the systems are still in the evaluation phase.

But what about the Big Brother factor? The idea of cameras checking out innocent people in public doesn't set well with civil libertarians.

GRPD officials say the cameras do the same thing an officer on patrol can do -- just faster and more efficiently.

"The license plate is strictly in public view -- something that any officer can see," said Kiddle. "This just allows the officer to run those more quickly."

Captain Kiddle said the department is aware of the privacy concerns that go with the cameras.

Plate reads be may used by detectives to follow up on crimes. GRPD is still deciding how long to keep those plates on file and how to store them. 

GRPD will be evaluating the new systems through the summer and hope to have them on the cars and on the road by the fall.