The Hesperia City Council has approved the purchase of a new patrol car-mounted automated license plate reader system for the Hesperia Police Department.
A unanimous decision to use federal grant money to buy the $34,840 device took place during the March 19 City Council meeting.
The ALPR system consists of four cameras mounted atop a patrol car and is capable of capturing license plate numbers of nearby vehicles, as well as information about their color, make, model and any possible damage, according to a staff report prepared for the Council by Hesperia Police Department Capt. Joe Billings and Sgt. Christine Kirby.
The system serves two separate purposes, officials said.
"As a post-crime investigative tool, such as determining the location of a suspect, and as a real-time license-plate alert system that compares license plates to the state law enforcement database of stolen vehicles, AMBER alerts (child abductions), and vehicles connected to missing persons," according to the staff report. "Should there be a vehicle flagged by one of the various databases, the Sheriff’s Department will be notified if a license plate read by the camera matches one in the databases."
A federal Homeland Security Grant will be used to cover nearly the entire cost of the device, with only $909 required from the Police Department Budget, the report states.
The purchase price includes a five-year warranty, although it does not cover damage caused by a potential traffic collision, officials added.
Police requested in their report that the ALPR system be purchased from Vigilant Solutions, which is already the "sole source vendor" for such systems throughout the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
The vehicle-mounted system will join dozens of stationary ALPR cameras already positioned throughout the city.
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