Tuesday, May 13, 2008

City of Lewisville Police Department acquires new PlateScan system for locating stolen cars

By Minnie Payne

LEWISVILLE — According to Lewisville Police Department Patrol Captain Todd Taylor, the City of Lewisville Police Department has acquired new PlateScan systems, used for locating stolen vehicles, for two patrol cars.

On Tuesday, May 6, at about 6:46 p.m., an officer was conducting a patrol at the St. Charles Place Apartments, 1090 South Charles Street and received an alert of a possible stolen vehicle from the onboard license plate recognition system. This was the first stolen vehicle uncovered by the new PlateScan system.

The officer located a silver Honda Civic in question parked across from building No. 3. Upon inspecting the vehicle, the steering column was observed to be damaged and the Honda was confirmed stolen out of Carrollton.

Taylor explains that basically the new system is a combination of four cameras mated to a software system. One camera is located on the driver’s side on the outside; one is located on the passenger side on the outside; one is located on the passenger side that faces to the side on the outside, and one is located on the rear deck of the patrol car.

“The software checks out numbers and letters to recognize a license plate number and then compares the license plate to a “hot list” of stolen vehicles that is provided on an hourly basis by the Texas Department of Public Safety,” Taylor said.

According to Taylor, the City of Mesquite Police Department possesses this new equipment and other surrounding cities are pursuing the idea.

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