Calvert To Scan Cars on The Fly

New Tool Checks Plates, Owners

Calvert County deputies are bringing a new set of eyes to their traffic duties.

The Sheriff's Department has received a grant of $44,000 from the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention to purchase two license plate readers. They consist of a camera mounted to a patrol car that can scan license plates -- parked or in motion -- as the cruiser's operator drives by. A computer immediately checks motor vehicle databases for stolen vehicles, suspended licenses, warrants and other information.

During a demonstration in a parking lot in Prince Frederick, the license plate reader found 20 violations in about 30 minutes, said 1st Sgt. Todd Ireland, commander of the Community Action Team and assistant commander of the patrol division.

"It is definitely going to be a force multiplier," Ireland told county commissioners at their Tuesday meeting.

In addition to alerting the deputy of a driver's revoked license or a failed emissions test, the license plate reader will help protect deputies by giving them valuable information before they pull a vehicle over, such as whether the owner is a suspect in a crime, Ireland said. Not all of the county's cruisers are equipped with the mobile data terminals that allow officers to run tags, he said.

By fall, Ireland hopes to have the two units mounted on a traffic unit and on a patrol car that is assigned with each shift, effectively putting one scanner on the road all day, every day.

St. Mary's County purchased a license plate reader in October using a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, said Cindy Allen, a spokeswoman for St. Mary's Sheriff's Department.

The device is mounted on the traffic safety unit and is regularly used for traffic enforcement, especially during special events and at drunken-driving checkpoints, Allen said.

The St. Mary's traffic safety officer has located more than 50 suspended or revoked driver's licenses since the department began using the scanner. He has tagged more than 30 emissions or insurance violations, Allen said. So far, the scanner has found no stolen vehicles, but it has spotted stolen tags, she said.

"The biggest story, if you will," Allen said, was when the traffic safety officer was alerted to a driver's suspended license. "In addition to the driver being suspended, he had three open warrants for his arrest. He was a suspect in a reckless endangerment case."

The license plate readers are used throughout the region, including in Charles and Prince George's counties.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland said the scanning of cars is legitimate for "narrowly tailored law enforcement purposes," but the group warns that laws are not in place "to ensure privacy is protected" when the technology advances to the point of being able to trace drivers and their information, said Meredith Curtis, a spokeswoman.

The Calvert Board of County Commissioners did not express such wariness when it unanimously approved the state grant.

"It is pretty amazing," said Commissioner Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large). "Everybody make sure what you are riding around in is street legal."