Having a record of vehicles driving through Kentwood is a tool police chief Bryan Litwyn says will help officers solve crimes and apprehend suspects:
“These cameras will notify our officers if a vehicle is stolen, listed in a serious incident such as an armed robbery an amber alert our officers will get an automatic notice of what location that vehicle was.”
The police are installing license plate reading cameras at 10 what they call strategic locations. Officers on duty will get an alert if a license flagged for some reason is read. They can also review stored data to search for suspects.
“If we know it’s a description of a black Chevy pickup and what time frame we can look at any black Chevy pickup that might have passed that camera and that will help us improve investigating crimes faster getting leads quicker which are all things we are looking for.”
Except for data used as evidence in investigations, the police chief says they will not save plate numbers and registration information.
“If it’s not involved in a crime, if its not used in an investigation its only kept for 30 days.”
The chief says Wyoming Police and the Kent County Sheriff already have license plate readers and the departments will share data.
