License Plate Recognition Technology Coming to Northern Washington County

Peters Township had a lead on a suspect in a 1995 murder: Three digits of a license plate number.

Chief Harry Fruecht said Tuesday he couldn't help but wonder how the license plate recognition technology that will soon be deployed by several northern Washington County police departments would have helped with that case.

Six local police departments—including Canonsburg, Cecil, North Strabane and Peters—will receive the technology, thanks to a $220,000 federal Law Enforcement Counter Narcotic Technology Grant issued in 2009.

District Attorney Steve Toprani on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the Automated License Plate Recognition Program, which is composed of mounted cameras connected to a central server.

Calling it the "most significant technological advancement our county has ever seen."

Cameras will be mounted on designated patrol cars (one in each of the participating communities) then wirelessly connected to a secure central database. The cameras automatically scan all the license plates in their vicinity, converting the images to text and then run against various law enforcement intelligence sources.

The process, Toprani said, augments traditional law enforcement functions by passively scanning as many as 30,000 plates a day—a process that allows officers to quickly assess threats.

"We view the system as a means to arm officers with knowledge of potential danger," he said.

And while Washington County is the first in western Pennsylvania to implement the system with several jurisdictions participating, the technology has been successfully utilized in areas such as Phoenix and Orange County, Calif.

"This technology has been tried and tested in the nation's most populated areas," Toprani said. "By sharing resources and data on a multi-million jurisdictional scale, Washington County now leads Pennsylvania in protecting its (residents)."

He also noted that the technology—which was acquired with the help of U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, and the cooperation of the associated police departments—would help with investigative work, too.

Murphy agreed, going a step farther.

Calling it a "powerful new weapon" for fighting crime, he said it sends a message to drug dealers and other undesirables that "you are not welcome."

Mayor David H. Rhome, who oversees the (Canonsburg) borough's police department, lauded the program and said he looks forward to working with the technology, which is expected to be deployed sometime this summer.

"It gives us an opportunity to patrol our streets more effectively and efficiently," he said.