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Canton Township weighing license plate reader at busy intersection
Law enforcement in Canton Township want to add a license plate reader to the corner of Beck and Michigan Avenue, one of the municipality's busiest intersections.
CANTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (FOX 2) - Canton Township law enforcement wants to stick a license plate reader at one of its busiest corners.
Some 30,000 vehicles cross through the Beck-Michigan Avenue intersection every day. The Canton Township Police Department says a license plate reader at the corner of those streets would go a long way in helping officers push back on the rising crime rates in the area.
"We want to be more efficient, reacting to the needs of the township," said Chief of Public Safety Chad Baugh, "and using license plate readers would give us an opportunity to locate people responsible for a crime if they used the car."
License plate readers may be the next piece of technology to go mainstream in Michigan.
In some areas like Dearborn and Troy, they already have. Michigan State Police have also installed readers along I-96 and the Southfield Freeway. There are also legislative efforts to allow for license plate readers in construction zones for traffic enforcement.
But license plate reading technology is a concern for some who fear it violates their privacy. Questions over how the data collected by the readers would be used, and how long agencies could hold onto that data, have both tailed conversations over their use.
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The proposal in Canton doesn't include traffic enforcement, the township said. The readers wouldn't take a picture of anything other than the license plate.
But for Baugh, it would be a useful tool in helping curb crime.
In Canton, car part thefts were up 73% last year. Retail crimes are up 21%.