Florida’s Lakeland Police Department is bragging about their brand new ability to automatically scan half-a-million license plates a month. They only had it running a couple weeks and scanned 250,000 without even trying. Assistant Chief Hans Lehman is stoked. This technology, he observes, “comes with benefits.”
Lakeland PD recruits Big Brother
Big Brother is on the payroll in Lakeland, Florida. Their police department “has spent more than a month gradually rolling out upgraded equipment to its officers, including body-worn cameras.”
They’re really fired up about the AI license plate reader system they just got in. They are definitely not a Democrat run jurisdiction, so take law enforcement seriously.
According to Assistant Chief Lehman, on February 3, “the license plate reader technology is working very good on those in-car systems.” Lakeland PD can do things they never thought possible.
LCSO TECHNOLOGY MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Using License Plate Reader technology, LCSO received notification of a vehicle stolen during an armed carjacking in Lakeland, Florida, the day prior.
Considered armed and violent, Gerald Phelps (DOB 09-29-1999) was stopped and detained. pic.twitter.com/SZTh7P3LeT
— Carmine Marceno – Florida’s Law and Order Sheriff (@SheriffLeeFL) July 6, 2020
On Monday, they’re scheduled to hold a meeting with commissioners. So, on Friday, they had an “agenda-study session” to kick around how it’s going. The consensus is cops love it. “In the two weeks we’ve had it, we’ve read almost 250,000 plates already.”
Built by Axon Enterprises, of Scottsdale, Arizona, the first of the “in-car video surveillance systems with license plate-reading technology” were hooked up around January 17.
So far, “nearly 120 of the 165 in-car systems have been outfitted.” Lakeland is holding a few “in reserve for an expected spring delivery of new vehicles.” The technology works while the officers are driving around.
Scanning constantly
The great thing about how the system works, Lehman explains, is that the “cruiser’s camera picks up plate numbers on parked cars or vehicles traveling in front of the cruiser.”
The computer automatically “checks a database to determine whether the registered owner of the vehicle has an arrest warrant, suspended license or other red flags.” Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor was grinning from ear to ear as he noted “the camera is working constantly behind the scenes scanning constantly.”
Before the high tech surveillance system came to Lakeland, officers had to “type in individual license plates to their provided laptop.” That’s not easy to do while driving. Cops could run a plate or two in the time the computer can run hundreds.
Chinese police are using smart-glasses for spot criminals
by @wef#AI #IoT #ArtificialIntelligence #InternetofThings #Smartcities #FacialRecognition #MachineLearningcc: @maxjcm @ronald_vanloon @pascal_bornet pic.twitter.com/MSQZfRZDp5
— Ronald van Loon: Meet me at #MWC23 (@Ronald_vanLoon) February 1, 2023
They like it so much they tricked out a couple trailers. The chief noted that “the department also owned two trailers that were equipped with license plate readers and stationed alongside various roads in the city.” He isn’t saying what they look like.
In the past six weeks, Lakeland PD passed out about 180 bodycams. They’re also training their “front-facing uniformed officers” how to use them to their best advantage. Eventually, they plan to issue cameras to administrative personnel and investigative teams.
On Monday, they plan to hit the city council up for another $15,000 in additional equipment and cloud storage. They expect another 15 new officers so need more cameras. They also need “30 more software licenses to allow staff members to access Axon’s Evidence.com to upload and access evidence.“
