Monroe County Sheriff’s Office adds license plate reader cameras

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File art of license plate camera readers.

WESTLAND, Mich. (FOX 2) - Automated license plate readers are coming to Monroe County, the sheriff's office announced Wednesday.

Sheriff Troy Goodnough said that four cameras were mounted on poles within the intersection of Sterns and Secor Roads in Bedford Township. The cameras are through a partnership with FLOCK Safety, which provides the service.

The sheriff's office said the cameras are not used for traffic enforcement, they do not take photos of the vehicle occupants and there is no facial recognition technology.

These cameras give real-time data to capture the make, model, color and license plate from vehicles traveling throughout Bedford Township and Monroe County. The shared date gives evidence and send real time alerts if a wanted or stolen vehicle passes by these cameras. The alerts are sent to every officer within seconds.

"Additionally, when new technology is introduced there is generally a question whether it’s tracking citizen movement," said Goodnough in a release. "This system is not, the data is securely stored in the cloud, automatically deleted every 30 days on a rolling basis and is not sold or shared with third parties.

"Law enforcement will be able to use this system for both proactive and reactive crime fighting."

This system will also provide information for criminal investigations.

"However, this technology will assist law enforcement and be a force multiplier," Goodnough said. "The Flock Safety cameras are just one more tool to assist law enforcement to help solve and prevent crime."

Several criticisms about license plate readers include stereotyping fears, worries about how data is being stored, and concerns about surveillance of innocent people.

Worries about reader misuse even led to the American Civil Liberties Union proposing guidelines that law enforcement agencies should follow if they choose to implement the technology.

In October of last year, Warren police praised thge license plate readers with helping solve violent crimes.