Va. police turn on the cameras

Virginia State Police are using digital cameras that can scan highways and parking lots for hot cars and stolen license plates. Using the digital images, police can compare the plates against any database of license plates: those associated with fugitives, stolen cars, plates that have been stolen, and so on.

State police began using the $16,000 readers several months ago. Their models take 25 photos per second, said Carl Fisher, a special agent with the Help Eliminate Auto Theft, or HEAT, a program of the State Police. Officers only have to turn the system on, and if it gets a hit, an alarm sounds. A computer checks the plates against the latest FBI “hot sheet” of stolen autos. The equipment can scan plates day or night.

Hampton police have the readers; other departments are testing them. Richmond police scanned 88,000 vehicles and recovered 30 stolen vehicles and 28 sets of stolen plates during a several weeks long operation, Fisher said.

Virginia’s auto theft rate has dropped 38 percent since 1991, according to a 2005 report by HEAT.