The Mt. Laurel Police Department has two extra helpers on the roads with them as they keep the township safe — and neither is a human.
The Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) units, which have been in use for more than a month, were purchased through grants, Lt. Dan Howard, of the Mt. Laurel Police Department, said.
“It’s one more tool the police can use to provide an increased level of safety to vehicles and pedestrians throughout the town,” he said. “It’s a force multiplier for us.”
He said the units make the police respond more efficiently and effectively.
According to Officer Michael Cresong, the units have three cameras — two in the front of a cruiser and one on the right-hand side. As the cameras detect license plates, a beeping noise occurs and a photograph is taken.
“I had like 4,000 reads one day,” he said.
When a car with an issue comes into focus, whether it’s being stolen, unregistered or other legal factors, such as warrants, it is known as a “hit.”
According to a report released on March 12, “An ALPR can be likened to the town watch concept, adding extra eyes in the community to assist law enforcement, which have a responsibility to enforce laws and apprehend criminals.”
“These units can, in a matter of seconds, scan every license plate it passes and check the license plate against numerous databases and determine if the vehicle is properly registered, if the vehicle or owner is wanted or on the terrorist watch list, if the vehicle is stolen or if the vehicle owner is an at-risk or missing person needing assistance.”
The officer operating the in-car laptop where the results are displayed will then confirm the plates were read correctly before making the next move.
The units are especially effective in parking lots, said Cresong, as police drive up and down the rows of cars looking for issues.
“It’ll tell us what the alert’s for,” he said.
Misreads do occur, he said, depending on the angle. Sometimes “5s” and “Ss” can be tricky.
“That’s why we confirm it before acting on it,” he said.
The units only recognize New Jersey plates, he said.
Before the units were installed, police had to manually check each car.
“It saves us a lot of time,” he said.
They can read plates from cars driving by at a total of 140 miles per hour.
“It’s fast,” Howard said.
The department received a $27,000 grant from the Office of Homeland Security and Protection through the Burlington County office of Emergency Management. A Division of Traffic Highway Safety federal and state level grant of $49,139 was also acquired.
That number went toward the units, radars, in-car cameras and laptops, said Howard.
In Mt. Laurel, he said, there are issues in town and potential threats to residents that the department is trying to quell.
“If you’re a criminal, if you’re going to break criminal laws, you’re probably not going to drive by traffic laws either,” he said
The units will help in identifying and removing aggressive drivers, he said.
“It’s also tied together with our ongoing data approach to traffic and safety,” Howard said.
It is too soon to tell what long-term effects the readers are making on the community through the data approach, he said, but there have been reductions in crime.
There have not been any reports of complaints from area residents, he said.
Howard said that the Attorney General has strict guidelines for the use of the readers. There are “substantial checks and balances” in place, he said.
“It won’t give out all of the information,” he said. “It’s very stringent.”
Only public records information is shown, he said.
Seven towns in Burlington County already have the readers, and another three have them coming in soon, he said.
“We’re the only town who has two,” he said, both of which through grants, which “didn’t cost the taxpayers a dime.”
