Child Molestation, Armed Robbery and Car Jacking Suspects Arrested with Assistance of License Plate Readers

Child Molestation, Armed Robbery and Car Jacking Suspects Arrested with Assistance of License Plate Readers

LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA (February 3, 2014) – Vigilant Solutions announces today that the Loganville Police Department in Georgia attributes recent and significant arrests to their use of license plate recognition (LPR) technology from Vigilant Solutions.

Assistant Chief M.D. Lowry comments, “On January 7, one of our officers received an alert from his license plate reader (LPR) system on a vehicle which was associated with an active arrest warrant out of Texas.  Our officer initiated a traffic stop per policy and identified the driver.  Following protocol, the officer used other systems to validate the hit and was able to confirm the driver was wanted out of Del Rio, Texas for Indecent Acts with a Child, 2nd Degree.  The suspect was taken into custody without incident and transported to the Walton County Jail to await extradition. “

“Just shortly after processing this suspect and within less than two hours of the first hit,” continues Lowry, “the officer returned to patrol and received another alert from his LPR system on a stolen vehicle out of Doraville.  The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, however the driver accelerated and a short pursuit ensued.  The driver of the suspect vehicle lost control in a turn because of their high speed and the vehicle ending up in the wood line adjacent to the roadway.  The female driver jumped out of the vehicle while it was still moving and ran into the woods.  To protect other drivers on the roadway, the officer first focused on stopping the moving vehicle before it veered into oncoming traffic, and then requested additional units to set up a perimeter around the area.  Units from the Loganville Police Department and Walton County Sheriff’s Office responded and set the perimeter while a K-9 unit was en route.  Due to the extreme cold that night, the suspect surrendered to officers on scene.  Follow-up investigation on this stolen vehicle determined it was taken in an armed robbery and carjacking in the city of Brookhaven.  The suspect taken into custody was later identified by photographic line-up as having taken part in the robbery.”

Assistant Chief Lowry concludes, “These two arrests took place in less than two hours by one officer equipped with LPR.  I have no doubt that these vehicles would have passed through our jurisdiction without detection had we not had the LPR unit in place.  We have only had our single unit for only a few months, but it is already proving its value by helping us to remove these threats from our community.  I can tell you that the capture of a child molester from nearly 1,200 miles away was more than worth the cost of the LPR unit.  If we never make another case with it, it was worth the cost.”