A new piece of technology has become a useful tool for the Salina Police Department. The agency has been utilizing Automatic License Plate Readers, or ALPR’s for several months now.

According to the department, officers have been utilizing the technology since June of this year.

ALPR’s systems are simply cameras that are mounted to the exterior of patrol vehicles which ‘capture’ license plate information. This plate information is captured while the patrol vehicles are stationary or at highway speeds. This information is cross-referenced against the Kansas Criminal Justice Information System (KCJIS) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) databases.

The most common crimes that these systems locate are stolen license plates, stolen vehicles and wanted subjects. We presently have the ALPR systems mounted on two patrol vehicles.
Since the inception of the program, we have recovered five (5) stolen vehicles valued at over $42,000 and also recovered five (5) stolen license plates. In addition, eight (8) arrests have been made as a result of wanted subjects being associated with the license plate registration.

A recent example of the success of the ALPR’s occurred on October 6th. In the early afternoon, a stolen license plate was reported. Four hours later, a 2006 GMC pickup was reported stolen to Salina officers. Eight hours later, an officer on routine patrol received an ALPR ‘alert’ that a license plate number it had captured was reported as stolen. This was the license plate reported stolen less than 24-hours earlier. Salina officers attempted to stop this vehicle with the stolen license plates, however, the driver exited but was quickly apprehended. Upon further investigation, the officers discovered that the vehicle with the stolen license plates was the stolen 2006 GMC pickup truck. Within hours of the license plate being stolen, it was placed on a stolen vehicle. The ALPR system was directly responsible for the recovery of a vehicle valued at $10,000 and the stolen license plate.

ALPR technology has been proven to reduce crime in communities where it is employed. This technology has resulted in countless arrests and stolen property recoveries across the state of Kansas and the nation. These two ALPR systems were purchased entirely with forfeiture funds in the amount of $53,330.