SHARONVILLE, Ohio — The Sharonville Police Department has been using new license plate readers to help solve crimes for the last couple of months.
Recently, the department has been able to make arrests in several cases with the help of Flock License Plate Readers.
"We've been able to use them to solve a shooting recently, as well as a pedestrian hit skip," Sgt. Dana Taggart with the Sharonville Police Department said.
The department was also able to catch two catalytic converter thieves.
Here's how the Flock License Plate Readers work.
"They're motion-activated still cameras that take a picture of the back of the vehicle and license plates," said Holly Beilin with Flock Safety, the company that makes Flock License Plate Readers.
There's two ways police can then access this information. Flock safety said if a license plate is flagged in a state or national crime database, like the database used for Amber Alerts, law enforcement are immediately notified.
Police can also use these to investigate a crime, looking in a specific area within a specific timeframe.
"We can put in something as simple as we're looking for a red SUV with a sticker in the rear windshield or the rear window and it will narrow the search down for us," Taggart said.
Some are skeptical of this technology, though.
"I think it's violating my personal rights. Big Brother is watching us all the time," said Douglas Michel.
Taggart said police can only view the images in the database if they have a legitimate law enforcement reason to be searching them. Plus, Flock Safety said the database where the images are stored is encrypted, then the images are deleted after 30 days.
The Sharonville Police Department isn't alone in using this technology. Flock Safety said more than 130 police departments across Ohio have implemented the license plate readers.
