The tool scans license plates as it passes cars. Maumee police chief Robert Zink says, "We're really excited about it. We're looking forward to using this new technology."
The technology logs license plates quicker than a human can. Officer Brian Walczak says, "As cars go by, it captures plates faster then we could manually do by hand. So hopefully it will help with the recovery of stolen vehicles."
Zink says the department sees it as a very useful tool. Tuesday, one of his officers logged more than 900 license plates in just eight hours. And the license plate reader never stops working.
Here's how it works: two cameras are located on the trunk of the officer's car. The system captures the license plate and then checks for warrants or if it is a stolen car.
Walczak said, "If it's a stolen car, the screen will pop up and flash red and say 'stolen vehicle' but it only recognizes letter and numbers so you have to make sure the plate actually is a valid license plate and you run it through dispatch." Zink says it has many benefits and comes at no cost to the department.
The readers are funded through a federal grant by the state homeland security program. Northwest Ohio is the last region in the state to implement this new system.
Many agencies are already putting the plate readers to use, including the Toledo police department, Lucas County sheriff, Oregon, Maumee and Sylvania.
