License plate readers makes way onto Metro Detroit freeways
(CBS DETROIT) - Michigan State Police recently began installing license plate readers in the metro area along the freeway.
The next time you're driving along Interstate 96 or the Southfield Freeway, you may notice a license plate reader. MSP recently began a new pilot project installing cameras on highways in the metro area.
"It takes a photo of a license plate and the back of a car." MSP Lt. Mike Shaw said. "What it does is it goes into a database it's actually kept with the manufacturer."
Violent crimes have been taking place on highways in recent times. In January, MSP investigated after the body of a 22-year-old man was found fatally shot on a Southfield Freeway ramp.
Authorities believe the plate readers, coupled with other techniques like cellphone pings, are modern policing.
"We can go into that database for the area and lookup Toyota four doors, and it will give us each one that went through there. Then it'll be up to detectives to kind of go through each one of those and take a look to see which is the suspect," Shaw said.
MSP said the end goal is to have license plate readers placed statewide.
"Our eventual goal is to have them from the tip of the Upper Peninsula all the way to the Ohio border on our freeway system," Shaw said.
License plate readers are beginning to become more common. Earlier this week in Canton, the board of trustees began discussing the idea of installing one at a busy part of town.
"I don't know of another way to state that if you drove through an intersection, whether it's LPRs which is throughout the state now including freeways that we drive your picture will be taken of your car and plate," Chad Baugh, Canton's director of Police Services said during the meeting.
For those concerned about data being shared when it comes to state police's LPRs, the system reportedly kicks the data out after a set time.
"It's for 30 days and then they purge out automatically because if a crime hasn't been reported within 30 days, there's really no sense in hanging on to it," Shaw added.
State police want locals to understand that although LPRs, are becoming more and more notable they've been in effect for years.
"Casinos have license plate readers when you're coming in and out of the garage. Neighborhood watch groups are literally buying LPRs," Shaw said.
State police are hoping to have the cameras installed throughout Oakland, Wayne, and Macomb counties by the end of the year.
