As an officer patrolling the streets of Brooklyn Center, Steve Lorentz will tell you that there's never a dull moment.
"Obviously here in Brooklyn Center, officers are fairly busy," he said.
It's his job to investigate auto theft crimes.
"We take auto theft pretty seriously here, and the goal is to make sure that the numbers are down," Officer Lorentz said.
Brooklyn Center had a total of 122 auto thefts in 2012, about 30 more than in 2011. Now, his squad car is equipped with a high-tech tool to help lower that number -- automatic license plate readers.
"What they do is when you're going through a parking lot or going down the street, they're reading all the license plates as you go," Lorentz said.
Four cameras mounted atop his car can read license plates from several different angles in rapid succession. Once the cameras scan a plate, the image pops up on his laptop.
"And what they're reading for is amber alerts, wanted people, stolen vehicles," he said.
According to Lorentz, stolen vehicles often lead to other crimes such as robbers, drive-by shootings and assaults. During an afternoon drive through the Brookdale Service Center parking lot, Lorentz showcased just what the cameras are capable of doing.
A $48,000 grant from the Minnesota Department of Commerce helped pay for the cameras, and in the mind of Officer Lorentz, it's money well spent because it helps him -- and the rest of the department -- make Brooklyn Center a safer place.
"Cause not only is it catching these thieves, catching these vehicles and giving the vehicles back to the owners, it's going to deter future theft," Lorentz predicted.
Meantime, privacy advocates have raised concerns about what police departments do with the data they collect from license plate readers, however, Brooklyn Center police say they don't retain any of that information.
Delane Cleveland
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12 News is on Comcast cable channel 12 in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis and includes the cities Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.
13 янв 2013
