![]() Some studies indicate the readers don’t deter crime, while others have found the devices can potentially reduce certain types of offenses. But the overall effect installing license plate readers has on crime rates still isn’t clear, and likely can’t be determined by conducting a short experiment. “One needs to take these advances with a grain of salt and acknowledge they need to be studied by others."įlock’s cameras are now used in over 400 communities in 35 states, and have been credited with helping police solve a series of serious cases. “It’s in the interest of the jurisdiction and the manufacturer to advance the notion that this is the latest and most sophisticated technology,” says Elias Silverman, professor emeritus at John Jay School of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. ![]() You can also mail us materials at 520 Third Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107. WIRED protects the confidentiality of its sources, but if you wish to conceal your identity, here are the instructions for using SecureDrop. Is there something about license plate readers you think we should know? Contact the author at or via Signal at 34. ![]() The company proudly touted the results of the Cobb County pilot in a press release it sent to WIRED this week, and advertises on its website that it solves “ up to five crimes an hour.” That’s the narrative Flock Safety has put forward. On the surface, it appears as though a simple fix-installing relatively discrete license-plate readers-had an enormous positive impact. “It was not a decrease that we expected to see,” says VanHoozer. Between March and August, the department recorded 50 instances of “entering auto,” Georgia’s term for breaking and entering into a vehicle, compared with 138 over the same time in 2018. During the first six months the license plate readers were installed, VanHoozer says he observed a dramatic change: The number of reported crimes like robbery and nonresidential burglary dropped over 50 percent apiece compared with the same period the year before. Law enforcement officials chose the area, known as Zone 2, Beat 215, because it’s experienced disproportionately high amounts of property and violent crime, says Stuart VanHoozer, Cobb County’s deputy chief of police. Along public roads near the local Six Flags amusement park, officers from the Cobb County Police Department installed 13 solar-powered automatic license-plate readers from Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based startup on a mission to “eliminate nonviolent crime.” The company’s cameras, which typically cost around $2,000 a year each to rent and operate, were loaned to Cobb County free of charge. ![]() In March, police in an Atlanta suburb embarked on a surveillance experiment in the hopes of reducing crime in the area. ![]()
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