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Cameras give cops superhuman set of eyes

Cameras give cops superhuman set of eyes

High-tech tool can read license plates

The Columbus Dispatch

By Dean Narciso

August 13, 2009

While on routine patrol along Hague Avenue this year, Franklin County Deputy Sheriff Joel Chairez passed a car that wouldn't have stood out.

But it caught the eye of two cameras mounted on his cruiser.

His console-mounted computer instantly flashed a picture of the car and set off a foghorn-like drone. The cameras had linked the car's license plate to a database that identified the owner as a rape suspect from Whitehall.

Chairez is convinced that the cameras are helping to locate and nail criminals.

"I wouldn't know that they would have warrants on them or expired tags," he said of drivers he passes on the street daily. "It frees up my hands so I can just focus on driving. And it's quick. It's really nice."

Law officers increasingly are turning to cameras to automate police work. Traffic cameras nab red-light runners and speeders. Pole-mounted cameras monitor high-crime areas.

The license-plate readers consist of up to four cruiser-mounted cameras that use infrared and conventional lenses along with optical-character-recognition software to "read" the plates of virtually every car that passes, even from two lanes away.

Police traditionally call a dispatcher to check a plate, or they type a license number into a computer in their cruiser, but the cameras record plates instantly regardless of vehicle speed.

Offenders, mostly those wanted on traffic warrants, are found daily, Chairez said. "It's almost like going fishing. Sometimes it will go off, and sometimes it won't."

"It's like you partner," said Lt. David Oyer of the sheriff's patrol bureau. "There are how many felony arrest warrants out there? And nobody has the manpower to enforce them all."

Both the Franklin County sheriff's office and Columbus Police Division have been using the cameras for two years.

"We always look for new technologies to make us more efficient and to better serve the public," said Chief Deputy Steve Martin of the sheriff's office.

Grove City is using about $25,000 of a $38,000 Justice Assistance Grant to buy its first camera from New York-based ELSAG North America, one of two major vendors.

"It is essentially doing the job of a police officer, just 100 times faster," said Grove City Police Capt. Steve Robinette.

And the camera can't be accused of criminal profiling or racial or ethnic bias, Robinette said. "The camera cannot see any of those factors."

By the end of the summer, Ohio should have at least 60 camera systems, said Max Maxwell, ELSAG's regional operations manager. The company has sold 2,000 of the systems in all 50 states.

The Columbus police auto-theft unit has equipped two unmarked cars with the cameras and is considering mounting others on poles in high-crime areas. Police officials also want to merge a database of parking-fine debts into the system.

"It's a very good bang for the buck. There are a lot of things it can be used for," said Sgt. Todd Anderson, a supervisor in the 21-officer unit.

But the cost of putting cameras in all cruisers -- about $25,000 per system -- is prohibitive, he said.