New York Counties Install Cameras Designed to Capture License Plates

New York police departments install cameras along popular routes to record license plates.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Jan 25, 2019

Surveillance cameras designed to capture license plates play a part in an number of criminal investigations and have proven to be an important enforcement tool for police. In New York, police in Washington and Warren counties have banded together to fund the installation of these cameras to help aid in local security.

The devices photograph and log the license plates of every passing vehicle, producing a database that is key for the Washington County Sheriff's Office. 

They are part of a network of cameras around the region and state operated by a number of police departments, using the same technology that has put license plate reader cameras on some police cars to locate stolen vehicles, flag unregistered vehicles or alert police when a vehicle being sought in an investigation passes by.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office has a set of the cameras on a popular road and the State Police have them at a number of locations in the region as well. 

Washington County Sheriff Jew Murphy said the technology is particularly important for finding vehicles when "Amber Alerts" issued for abducted children. Just last fall, the technology played a part in helping police solve the disappearance of a local girl. 

"It's one of the best tools that has ever come around," Murphy said.