Unit will alert officers to stolen cars, other items of police interest

The Buckley Police Department was recently awarded a $29,632 grant to implement a license recognition system.

The grant was issued by the Washington State Auto Prevention Authority.

Buckley Police Chief Jim Arsanto said the Automated License Plate Recognition technology is expensive, and his department would not have been able to equip even one of the city’s police cruisers without the grant. Arsanto stopped short of saying what shift during which the technology would be employed, or exactly when the device would be installed.

While the system was primarily created to identify the license plates of stolen cars, it also reads and processes all license plates and dovetails with programs such as the Washington State Department of Transportation’s AMBER alert System. An alarm also goes off when it detects the license plate of anyone who has been placed into the system driving with an outstanding warrant.

“Basically, any license plate that has been red flagged and entered into the computer system of the Washington State Crime Information Center or the National C.I.C will activate an alarm,” Arsanto said.

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