The Waterloo Regional Police Service is increasing the use of technology to keep the community safe.
The service announced this week it will expand the use of automated license plate readers on all of its cruisers.
License plate readers allow officers to identify stolen vehicles, suspended drivers, as well as expired license plates in an attempt to keep roadways safe.
A scanner continuously detects vehicle plates as a cruiser makes its way around the city and notifies the officer of a "hit" if something is detected. The reader is capable of scanning thousands of plates per hour.
Equipped vehicles have access to a Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Canadian Police Information Centre “hot list,” which is a database of millions of license plates in poor standing.
Examples of "hot list" plates include ones belonging to a driver with a suspended license, associated with stolen vehicles or are reported stolen or missing, that have been suspended, that has expired validation tags or associated with persons with outstanding Canada-wide warrants or who are reported missing.
If a license plate is in good standing, the officers don't receive a notification and information is deleted.
For more information on the Automated License Plate Recognition system visit wrps.on.ca.
