ALPR (automated license plate readers) I truly believe that they will eventually be seen on patrol cruisers everywhere. Most configurations consist of 4 cameras which include infrared and a color picture system. Usually 2 on the roof facing 45 degrees, adjusted to monitor adjacent lanes, and one on each side mounted near the roof lightbar alley lights, adjusted to monitor vehicles in parking lots. The system works in all weather, and all lighting conditions... the ALPR processor is usually mounted in the trunk, and it contains the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software and it takes the camera images and converts them into data files, which are then checked against databases that have been applied to the system. Studies show that a patroling officer can run approx 50 to 200 plates on thier computer during the course of an eight hour shift... the PIPS ALPR system can run 5,000 to 10,000 plates in the same time. It works in the background, non-stop, of an officers mobile computer so he's able to use his computer for other things while its running. Drawbacks would include price... approx $25,000 to $30,000 per vehicle. One other little drawback... it often cannot distinguish the state of origin of a plate.
