Mesa Police’s New System Keeps Eye Out For Stolen Cars
Mesa, Ariz., will start using a system this month that will allow police officers to more easily identify stolen cars. The $25,000 Mobile Plate Hunter 900, sold by Remington Elsag Law Enforcement systems, is installed on the roof of a police vehicle and allows officers to scan an entire shopping center parking lot for stolen cars within just an hour and scan 15 license plants per second.
Arizona ranks second in auto thefts nationwide based on the number of cases per capita. Mesa will be the first Arizona city to use the system, which includes a mobile magnetic scanner with a trio of cameras that focus in different directions. Captured images are transmitted to a computer that runs the license plates against the Department of Public Safety’s stolen-car database, and triggers an alarm if a match is found.
“It’s like having another officer on board,” boasts Remington Elsag business developer Marcie Golden. “Several state agencies and police departments have used it and recovered hundreds of stolen cars and plates successfully.”
Golden’s company claims the system can read plates from every U.S. state and Mexico, and operates at daytime, nighttime, and in all kinds of weather.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Arizona Republic (07/25/05) P. 1A; Shah, Tina .
