A string of robberies happened in an Atlanta community. There was a lot of evidence linking suspects to the crime, but the details were scarce. The only thing officers knew was that a getaway driver was involved. Luckily for them, they had a Flock Safety license plate reading camera perched at a nearby shopping center.

Why are license plate readers so important?

Less than a decade ago, police officers would need to pull grainy footage from often-unreliable surveillance cameras located near the scene of the crime (when available). They would hope an eyewitness would come forward to offer a small shred of evidence linking the crime to a suspect(s). This whole process required ample face to face interaction, knocking on doors, and spending a lot of energy visiting multiple locations — sometimes resulting in very little information. Time is never a luxury when action needs to be taken quickly and in most cases, sustainable evidence can be lost after 48 hours have passed.

With license plate reader footage, officers can instantly get the evidence they need to investigate crimes.

LPRs allow for versatility when investigating crime

Fortunately for this Atlanta police department, they had the technology needed to capture actionable, objective evidence that would lead to arrests related to the string of robberies. And in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis, officers trying to limit their exposure to people didn’t slow them down or stop them from solving the case. License plate reading technology kept both officers and citizens at a safe distance despite the necessary investigation for these destructive crimes.

An extra officer on the force

The turning point in the case occurred when one of the suspects went to a local shopping center and used a stolen credit card that crime analysts were watching for activity. This enabled the analyst to track down a timeframe and the location of the suspects to a place where a Flock Safety license plate reader stood watch. Detectives used the estimated time of the crime to analyze potential getaway vehicles exiting the shopping center. Officers were then able to cross-reference the additional robberies that recently took place to find any overlap in vehicle activity.

In what could have taken days, police identified one vehicle as the suspected getaway driver and known accomplices — in just a few hours. From there, officers were able to make the arrests.

Smart technology with smart machine learning

License plate readers with advanced machine learning technology can see like a detective on the force. As agencies step up their caution in handling crimes during the time of COVID-19, technology like Flock Safety creates force multiplier effect and helps deliver on the mission to solve crime and keep communities safe.