Middletown, Ohio – In order to fight and reduce crime, many cities in the state and throughout the country have decided to implement license plate reading technology.
Authorities are hoping this technology will help them locate missing people, find stolen vehicles, aid in the investigations of hit-and-run accidents, etc., which is the main reason why all these cities decided to adopt license plate readers.
The most recent community to implement license plate reading technology is Middletown. The police department announced that they would be installing 26 Flock Camera license plate readers within the city limits in August.
The motion-activated cameras take a clear image of any license plates that pass in front of them, as well as the rear of the vehicle, revealing the color, make, and model of the vehicle.
The Middletown Police Chief said in a statement, “The ability to network with other cities and agencies with crucial information, such as Amber Alerts, stolen vehicles, and felony suspect searches, is a game changer for our city. The fact that we can get immediate alerts if those suspects end up in Middletown changes how we do business and solidifies partnerships with surrounding communities.”
A Floc spokesperson mentioned that there are privacy measures in place and that the cameras are not looking for speeders, meaning “no speed, no facial recognition” and that the system only enables searching by vehicle characteristics and not people. The system keeps the images in storage for a period of one month.
The license plate readers are also connected to an FBI database.
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