100 automated license plate readers are going up in San Fernando Valley
Portions of the San Fernando Valley will get an extra set of eyes to help fight crime, as 100 automated license plate readers are going up in the northwest area.
Earlier this year, L.A. Councilmember John Lee allocated $500,000 to purchase, install and maintain the cameras to help combat crime in the Valley.
The ALPR cameras assist law enforcement in tracking and recording license plates as they pass through, to narrow the search for vehicles tied to crimes. The system then uses optical character recognition to compare the plates with hot vehicles of interest. Data stored can also help connect serial crimes.
During a Thursday afternoon Porter Ranch news conference, Lee said the cameras just started going up a few weeks ago and have already led to two robbery arrests. "Last year the Devonshire Division reported that the homes and communities located north of this very street (Rinaldi Street) experienced a 103 % increase in home burglaries," Lee said.
The cameras can be attached to police vehicles, poles or traffic signals and Lee assured that the cameras are not to be used for ticketing purposes. "I'd like to stress that these are not traffic cameras. They are not going to be used to ticket drivers and will be used specifically to help our law enforcement partners conduct their investigations more efficiently," Lee said.
Other areas in Los Angeles County use ALPR cameras to aid law enforcement, including Beverly Hills, where the system helped catch a brazen murder suspect last year.
Two days after the Nov. 2023 follow-home robbery and murder of a San Dimas man in his garage, Beverly Hills police arrested 33-year-old Jerrid Joseph Powell as he drove through the city, with the ALPR camera alerting police of the suspect's vehicle as it had been tied to the killing.
Once Powell was behind bars in connection to the San Dimas murder, he was then linked to another crime spree and was charged with three additional counts of murder for killing homeless men as they slept outside in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Interim Police Chief Dominic Choi said the technology is crucial as the department explores innovative ways to combat crime. "Studies show that motor vehicles are involved, nationally, in about 75% of all crimes, whether its robberies, whether its burglaries, human trafficking, murders, drive-by shootings, their mode of transportation is a vehicle," Choi said.
Despite its success, the ALPR camera technology does not come without its critics.
The American Civil Liberties Union, better known as ACLU, says that the "use of license plate readers not only infringes on our right to go about our lives without the government monitoring our every move, but the invasive tech has led to an indefensible number of erroneous stops that put commuters at risk."