LPR Technology | MPH-900 | License Plate Reader

Drivers traveling through Wakefield, be advised, the town’s police department has a new and improved way of catching you if you’re breaking the law.

Late last month, the department equipped its first cruiser with a new plate reader system. The system captures license plates via two roof-mounted cameras and then feeds the plate information through the police officer’s laptop and directly into a state database.

Should the plate belong to a driver or car of interest to police, it will send an alarm to the officer. The system was designed to track stolen cars, or motorists with suspended or revoked licenses and registrations.

“It’s amazing technology; it’s really going to be valuable, a great tool,” Wakefield Police Officer Kevin McCaul said from inside the equipped cruiser last week.

The plate reader system, according to Wakefield Police Lt. John Mackay, cost about $20,000, with money obtained through a grant.

“I consider it one of the most valuable tools to come along in quite some time,” Mackay added through an e-mail.

Asked whether additional cruisers will be equipped with the system, Mackay replied it would be unlikely.

Police officers received training for the camera system on the day it was installed by representatives of ELSAG North America.

Pat Fox, the company’s field operations manager, said similar systems have been installed in more than a dozen other police departments across the state, including Somerville, Boston, Chelsea, Haverhill, Revere, Salem and the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. More than 700 departments across the country have been using the system.

The technology got its start in Europe, where plates are easier to read. It was brought to the United States in 2005, where Fox’s company ran into new difficulties. Many states, he said, have dozens if not more varieties of plates, making it harder for the system to read them.

Fox said since the system was introduced in the United States, some additional uses have been incorporated beyond the original targets: stolen vehicles, stolen license plates and revoked licenses.

Fox said they can be used as part of the AMBER alert system and have been used to help track down excise tax evaders and those with outstanding parking or traffic citations.

Before long, the cameras will generate enough money for the department to offset the cost of the system, he added.

Wakefield PD installs high tech plate readers