License plate scanners give police ‘another set of eyes’

Snow falling in parts of Miami Valley; accumulation expected
12:14 p.m.
Ohio leaders preparing defense of bases amidst closures
10:59 a.m.
Pentagon to allow women to serve near front lines
9:17 a.m.
Ohio receives $335M in housing assistance
7:33 a.m.
Huber Heights to cut $1.3 million from budget
2/10/12
> More headlines

By Doug Page, Staff Writer Updated 10:02 AM Tuesday, June 1, 2010

DAYTON — As Dayton officer Jennifer Godsey drives the streets of northeast Dayton, her cruiser’s two license plate scanners give off reassuring beeps with every passing vehicle. When the scanner alarms, Godsey knows she may have a hot one — a stolen car, an outstanding warrant, an Amber Alert.

“They are another set of eyes,” Godsey said of the scanners that automatically read license plates and check their records. “It’s like riding with a partner who does nothing but watch.”

Dayton Major Mark Hess, who runs the department’s patrol operations, agreed. “We have to use technology because of fewer officers.”

Godsey figures she makes six to eight arrests a week from the scanners. In the six months since the machines hit the streets, Godsey found three stolen cars and made 25 to 30 warrant arrests. Each of the city’s five police districts has a scanner, two of which were purchased through a federal Homeland Security grant. They cost $25,000 to $30,000 each.

Englewood police have been using a plate scanner for nearly two years.

“Last week, one of the officers was driving through a parking lot when the scanner alerted on a car. The result was an arrest for a felony forgery warrant,” Englewood Sgt. Mike Lang said.

“It’s an arrest we probably would not have made without the scanner because there was no reason for the officer to run the plates.”

Sgt. Larry Tolpin of the Central Business District said the ability for the machine to scan passing plates and run the numbers through a national database is “absolutely great. It’s tedious to manually punch in the data on the cruiser’s terminal.”

Godsey recalled cruising down a neighborhood street when the scanner alarmed on a parked car. She confirmed a warrant for the car’s owner, but the address was in another part of town.

Dispatch was able to run through the calls at the address where the car was parked and found officers had been there on a loud music complaint. The complaint name was the same as the name on the warrant.

“I knocked on the door and identified myself. She looked at me and asked, ‘How did you find me?’ ” Godsey said with a smile. “She had moved two weeks prior, likely to avoid a felony child-support warrant. She couldn’t figure out how we found her.”

Englewood’s Lang is hoping as more departments get the scanners, they will start sharing their local data even on minor crimes. “I’m hoping we can fine-tune our data.”

Miamisburg, Huber Heights, Butler Twp. and Riverside are among departments that either have the equipment or planning a purchase of the scanners.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article