LPR Technology | MPH-900 | License Plate Reader

By Christopher Ruvo

Bucks County Courier Times

There's a new high-tech device on the roads in Upper Moreland, and it spells trouble for car thieves, wanted criminals and other lawbreakers.

The gadget is called the Mobile Plate Hunter-900. Since going on patrol with police about two weeks ago, the plate hunter has led to the arrest of a retail thief who might have escaped without the device's 21st Century technology..

Upper Moreland Police Chief Thomas Nestel III expects the arrest is the first of many to be made with the help of the plate hunter.

"It's a huge benefit. A tremendous tool," said Nestel.

Installed on a police car, the plate hunter features three cameras that record license plates and images of vehicles that pass the cruiser - up to 3,600 per minute, day or night, in any weather.

Using proprietary software, the device automatically scans the tags through a voluminous data file of "hot list" vehicles that is stored - and continually updated - on the patrol car's computer. The "hot list" contains information on vehicles wanted in connection with crimes or vehicles tied to wanted people.

The plate hunter will sound alarms immediately to alert an officer if a vehicle that has just passed is on the hot list, allowing the cop to get on the tail of the unsuspecting criminal.

Since the plate hunter tells the officer the crime associated with the plate in question, officers can immediately assess the potential risks of pursuing the subject.

Officers can also manually enter license plate numbers into the gadget to see if they have recorded a certain vehicle recently. If they have, the plate hunter will issue a date, time stamp, photo of the vehicle and indicate the immediate area and GPS coordinates of where the vehicle was glimpsed.

The manual search capability led to the arrest of Sophia Kotlyarenko, 21, of the 500 block of Zinn Drive, Upper Southampton, in connection with a retail theft that occurred Sept. 20 at Pathmark on East County Line Road in Upper Moreland.

Witnesses told police that the thief drove off in a Lexus SUV. The first three numbers of the license plate were covered with paper, but witnesses saw the last four digits and told police, authorities said.

Upper Moreland Officer R. Kenneth Johnson figured there was a chance he had passed the vehicle recently and input the four digits into the plate hunter.

It was a heads-up move: Johnson had come across the vehicle the day before, and the plate hunter had a full read on the license plate, allowing police to determine the vehicle's owner, who turned out to be a family member of Kotlyarenko's, authorities said.

Officers then showed an image of the Lexus - an image taken by the mobile plate hunter - to witnesses, who confirmed the SUV was the vehicle the alleged thief had driven off in.

An investigation ultimately led police to contact Kotlyarenko, who admitted to the theft at Pathmark, a police spokeswoman said. She was issued a citation for stealing about $100 worth of merchandise, including magazines, Mucinex and baby formula, said police.

"Law enforcement here already does a good job. If you give them innovative tools like these, they can do an even better job," said state Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf, who got Upper Moreland a $21,000 grant to buy the plate hunter.

Elsag North America has been selling the plate hunter for about six years. The device can cost from about $16,500 for a base system to upwards of $21,000, an Elsag spokesman said.

About 570 police outfits across the nation have at least one plate hunter, according to Nate Maloney, director of marketing and communications for Elsag.

There's at least one plate hunter in all 50 states and about 1,600 units total have been deployed, Maloney said. The highest concentration is in New York, where there are about 550 plate hunters in patrol cars throughout the state.

"It's an aggressive tool that our law enforcement partners are having success with," said Maloney.

Device keeps eye on license plates