Posted: June 09, 2009 15:26:58 PST
If you see a Bellingham Police Patrol vehicle driving around with what appears to be several boxes attached to the trunk, you have just seen the latest crime fighting tool in locating stolen vehicles.
The four "boxes" are actually cameras that capture the images of license plates on stationary or moving vehicles. Once the image is captured, the system searches a database for registered stolen vehicles.
Currently, stolen vehicle information is available to the public and officers. This new equipment scans license plates and checks against a database at the rate of 15 per second.
There are several other usable options for this high tech system; for instance, the software can be programmed to match vehicles owned by endangered missing persons, registered sex offenders or vehicles listed in an Amber Alert.
The name of the system is Mobile Plate Hunter 900 and cost $29,000. The money to purchase the equipment was made available to the the Bellingham Police Department through a grant from WAPTA (Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority). The grant money could only be spent on auto theft prevention programs.
There are currently 500 other systems in operation by Police agencies throughout the United States.
For further information, please contact Lieutenant Bill Slodysko at (360) 778-8759.
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Media Contact:
Mark Young
Public Information Officer
Bellingham Police Department
(360)778-8773
myoung@cob.org
