Taylor police using hi-tech "Flock" camera system to track criminals
TAYLOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) — The Taylor Police Department is rolling out high-tech cameras equipped with license plate readers, which are already helping them in significant investigations.
It's also helping fill a staffing shortage.
The Taylor Police Department has the budget to have 86 officers on the force, but finding them is tough, and so right now, there are only 74 in the rank and file.
In the meantime, they jump whenever opportunities, like the Flock camera system, present themselves.
"We've had multiple armed robbery suspects identified and arrested due to the Flock LPRs; we've been shooting suspects, fraud rings, and approximately 60 stolen cars recovered," Lt. Jeff Adamisin with the Taylor Police Department said.
The cameras equipped with license plate readers are called the "Falcons," which send an alert to an officer's computer whenever they get a hit on a car they're looking for.
"It shows a picture of the plate, it shows a picture of the car, and it shows the map location where that vehicle is, so then the officers can position themselves to intercept that vehicle. These cameras do not take pictures of the occupants of the vehicle. We don't know the race, the sex of the driver at all," Adamisin said.
The cameras have become a force multiplier for the department.
During the NFL draft, Homeland Security partnered with Taylor PD to bust sex predators.
Officers posed as underage children on the internet, and police say seven individuals tried to meet up with them, including:
- Johnathan Alejandro Guiterrez-Aguilera, a 24-year-old Venezuelan national, on charges for transporting persons for prostitution.
- Joseu Rafael Semprum Bolivar, an 18-year-old Venezuelan national, on charges of transporting persons for prostitution.
- Ryan Richard Davis, a 44-year-old, on charges of child sexually abusive activity and accosting children for immoral purposes.
- Craig William Newby, a 30-year-old, on charges of child sexually abusive activity and accosting children for immoral purposes.
- Austin Sheldon, a 24-year-old, on charges of child sexually abusive activity and accosting children for immoral purposes.
- Branden Austin, a 27-year-old on charges of transporting persons for prostitution.
Taylor police say the three men arrested for trying to engage in child exploitation acts were all charged with counts of child sexually abusive activity, children accosting for immoral purposes, using a computer to commit a crime, and using a computer to commit a crime.
All have been arraigned in Wayne County.
The cameras were pivotal in identifying and tracking the suspects.
"We knew this individual was coming from Brighton. So we could track that vehicle as it headed south or east. However, you want to call it coming down 96. We were able to track that by looking at these license plate hits. I did not have to deploy a six- or an eight-man surveillance crew to follow them. I don't have those officers. And it can be very dangerous to do surveillance. So we tracked that vehicle as it came into our city," Chief John Blair with the Taylor Police Department said.
The fifty cameras that are up in Taylor cost about $150,000.
"This system is locating wanted people, bad people in society, and it's giving us another set of eyes," Adamisin said.