Ottawa Police have a new device that will help them catch drivers with expired tags, suspended licenses or stolen cars.
The new Automatic License Plate Reader is mounted on a marked Ford Explorer and can scan up to 5,000 plates in an hour.
"Basically the cameras will capture a numbered plate, it will run it through a database," said Sgt. Rob Cairns with the Traffic Escort and Enforcement Section. "If that plate number exists on what we call a 'Hot List,' it will alert the driver of the patrol car to certain irregularities. Those irregularities could stem from suspended driving, disqualified driving, maybe wanted on a warrant. It'll even give us expired validations and a few other bits and pieces."
One of them being alerting the officer if the vehicle is wanted as part of an Amber Alert.
"It's not doing a job that we aren't already doing," said Cairns, who pointed out officers routinely run plates while out on the road.
He added the device enhances officer safety.
"It's running plates exactly the same way as an officer would do, but it's taking the pressure (off.) The officer has got his head up or her head's up looking at the road as opposed to gazing down onto a computer terminal," said Cairns.
If the scanner reads your plate and it is clean, all information is automatically deleted from the system.
"It's void straight away," said Cairns. "It's gone from the database straight away. The only time they're retained, and they're retained for five years if your vehicle comes back as a hit. If you're a suspended driver and you're driving your vehicle, that plate number will retain on the database for five years. It only remains there for court disclosure purposes."
The reader cost $40,000 and was funded by the Safer Roads Ottawa Program.
Take a look @OttawaPolice's new automatic license plate reader #ottnews pic.twitter.com/LGgqYw91A7
— Alison Sandor (@CFRA_Alison) September 1, 2016
Device cost about $40K, paid for by Safer Road Ottawa program #ottnews pic.twitter.com/skzzXkEq2p
— Alison Sandor (@CFRA_Alison) September 1, 2016