The Twentynine Palms City Council has made it harder to traverse that city without being noticed. Reporter David Haldane explains…
If you ever steal a car, better not drive it through Twentynine Palms. That’s the main takeaway from last night’s City Council meeting at which something called the Automated License Plate Reader program won unanimous approval.
Basically, what it will do is equip five sheriff’s patrol cars with mobile cameras designed to recognize license plate numbers and record them in a database. Then, when law enforcement officials want a specific car, all they need to do is plug in the number and, voila!
In addition to helping track stolen vehicles, they say, the technology will be used for amber alerts, finding wandering or missing Alzheimer’s patients, and tracing cars associated with various crimes. To get the ball rolling, the council allocated nearly $162,000 for the mobile units as well as eight cameras in a fixed position to record all moving plate numbers on Adobe Road.
In other business, the council granted its city manager a 2.3 percent raise in benefits and pay.
TWENTYNINE PALMS COUNCIL APPROVES MOBILE AND FIXED LICENSE PLATE READERS
