The Erie Police Department has soft-launched automatic license plate readers to serve key purposes: to detect criminal activity and an alert to a ‘Hotlist Hit’ (missing or endangered person).
Criminal Activity (Stolen Vehicle, Stolen Plates, Associated Warrants)
The devices, powered by Flock safety, detect rear license plates (and rear images of vehicles) that have been previously involved in a crime or reported stolen. Through government encryption, select Erie Police personnel are alerted to the vehicle in Erie. Additionally, these personnel can retroactively search the shared law enforcement databases to connect committed crimes.
Hotlist Hits (Missing or Endangered Persons)
A ‘hotlist hit’ denotes a license plate designated by a government entity (Colorado Crime Information Center and Colorado Bureau of Investigations) to be associated with a missing or endangered person. The license plate reader will ping officers with information about the location of the vehicle.
Data is used for law enforcement purposes only. Data is owned by the Erie Police Department and never sold. Never.
Access requires a valid, documented reason and is only accessible to authorized law enforcement personnel.
Prohibited uses include immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment or intimidation, personal use, and usage-based solely on a protected class (race, sex, religion).
Cooperating law enforcement Agencies include Boulder County, Adams County, the City of Boulder, Broomfield, Johnstown, Lafayette, Louisville, and more.
License plate readers powered by Flock Safety are in use in over 2,000 cities across 40 states. Flock says, “Law Enforcement reports crime reductions of up to 70 percent when deployed in their communities.”
Prior to an official launch of these community safety tools, all of the devices need to be installed, activated and tested. Another crucial piece is to train approved internal staff.