I-CUBE Facial, License Plate Recognition and Image Analysis by Barry T. Dudley 031 764 3077 or 082 562 8225 or LPR at I-Cube dot co dot za

Deputies can detect stolen cars in seconds with new system

PINELLAS COUNTY – Pinellas County deputies recently acquired a new tool to detect stolen vehicles and license plates.

On Tuesday, the License Plate Recognition System helped locate a stolen vehicle at the intersection of Park and Seminole boulevards.

The system photographs license plates and evaluates them against an onboard list of stolen vehicles and license plates.

Once the photograph of the plate is captured, it is displayed on the deputy’s laptop for review. If the plate or the vehicle is reported as stolen, the system returns an alarm back to the operator in milliseconds.

On Tuesday, Aug. 1, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched at 10:42 after locating a stolen Chevrolet Impala. Deputies say the car, occupied by at least three people, turned into a Hess gas station located at the intersection and stopped. The driver went into the store.

As deputies began to position their patrol cars around the stolen car, a passenger inside the car moved to the driver’s side, started the car and proceeded into the Home Depot parking lot. Deputies attempted to stop the car. In the process the car rammed a deputy’s cruiser, entered Park Boulevard and drove east bound.

According to the public information office, deputies pursued the vehicle to U.S. 19. A helicopter joined the chase at 118th Avenue and it traveled northbound on 275. The car exited in Tampa and crashed into two vehicles at the intersection of Swann and Henderson. The Tampa Police Department reports taking a female suspect into custody following the crash and that an occupant of one of the car’s involved in the crash sustained a minor injury.

Twenty three units initially responded to the scene. Deputies say the car was reported stolen out of Orange County.

The investigation continues.

More than 125,000 updated files of stolen cars and license plates are provided to the Sheriff’s Office by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement each day. When the deputies begin their day, they refresh their files generating a new hotlist. While generating the new hotlist, license plates that were captured during the deputy’s last shift are deleted.

The system is built by Remington Elsag Law Enforcement Systems. Two systems were funded by federal technology grants earmarked by Congressman C.W. “Bill” Young. The remaining two systems were funded through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program. This program provides discretionary federal funds to jails that house criminal aliens. Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office administrators say each system costs $20,000.

The system consists of two cameras and a processor that were installed on a combination of four marked and unmarked patrol cars assigned to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Operations Bureau. The cameras can read license plates of cars operating in up to four lanes of traffic with a single patrol car depending on the angles the deputies have chosen to position the cameras. The cameras are mounted to the patrol cars with magnets. Administrators chose the magnetic style of mounting in order to ensure that the systems remain in service by having the capability to interchange the cameras and processors throughout the vehicles assigned to the Patrol Operations Bureau.

While there are four systems currently in use, plans are under way to seek additional grant funding to equip more Pinellas County Sheriff’s patrol cars with this capability.
Article published on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2006

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