After seeing the success of license plate readers at stopping auto thefts at Denver Worldwide Airport in the previous few months of 2023, Denver metropolis officers on Thursday introduced a plan to unfold the cameras throughout the town.
The license plate reader growth is a part of a brand new citywide plan to lower charges of auto theft that Mayor Mike Johnston and Police Chief Ron Thomas introduced in a information convention. The plan consists of an expanded patrol drive, a everlasting auto theft prevention crew, rising the DenverTrack program and collaborating with automobile manufacturers most susceptible to being stolen.
The town has been a hotspot for auto thefts in a state that has been among the many worst nationwide for years, however a metropolis and general state lower has officers seeking to develop efforts to scale back the crime even additional. Denver noticed a 19% lower in 2023, Thomas mentioned, and the state’s Auto Theft Prevention Authority recorded a 21% lower general from 2022 to 2023.
“Underneath the chief’s management, we deployed [the license plate reader] technique on the Denver airport for the final six months,” Johnston mentioned. “Over the past six months, now we have dropped auto thefts at DIA by 90%. That’s the reason our plan now could be to develop that capability throughout the town.”
The town will implement 111 license plate readers in additional than 70 areas, which might be solely used to trace stolen automobile license plates and ones related to sure violent crimes, Thomas mentioned. Of these, 93 might be bought by normal funds. The opposite 18 have been acquired by metropolis council motion.
Addressing considerations concerning the forms of crimes monitored with earlier license plate readers within the metropolis, like those at sixth Avenue and Federal Boulevard, Thomas mentioned this new wave of readers gained’t be set for site visitors violations or as justification for looking out automobiles.
“It’s solely going to be set for auto theft and violent crimes,” Thomas mentioned. “Our coverage goes to make sure it stays that method.”
Metropolis coverage additionally ensures any knowledge collected will not be going to be shared with Immigration Management Enforcement, Thomas mentioned.
The cameras gained’t acquire any personally identifiable data, and the footage collected will solely be saved for 30 days until particular items of footage are tagged as being proof of against the law.
The police division decided the areas of the cameras primarily based on crime developments, Thomas mentioned.
“We actually don’t wish to have any disparate affect on any explicit neighborhood,” he mentioned. “The areas have been recognized by an overlay of violent crime, auto thefts, in addition to hit and runs.”
The areas of the cameras and license plates recognized as stolen which might be being tracked might be revealed on the police division’s web site.
Thomas mentioned the division remains to be procuring the cameras, after which it is going to transfer on to the set up stage, which is able to final about 4 to eight weeks .
One other main addition for the police division, the expanded patrol capacities, will carry the drive to pre-2018 ranges, Johnston mentioned.
“After we lowered our police drive throughout the town, many issues occurred,” Johnston mentioned. “Certainly one of them was our incapability to reply shortly to auto theft. That is why are so targeted this yr on restoring our police drive to full licensed capability.”
Johnston and Thomas are working to fill three cadet lessons this yr, which is able to put 167 extra officers on the streets. This enhance was addressed in Johnston’s metropolis funds.
In March 2022, the police division was 100 officers in need of its full licensed uniformed officer capability, in keeping with the police division’s June 2023 police operations and staffing audit.
“That will carry us again to larger patrol capability than even 2018, which is able to imply we’d have the individuals on the road who might shortly reply,” Johnston mentioned.
Moreover, the town’s pilot auto theft prevention crew will turn into everlasting, dedicating a gaggle of officers to deal with crimes.
The crew, comprised of 5 investigators, two patrol officers and a supervising sergeant, arrested 201 of two,200 whole auto theft suspects and recovered 30 unlawful weapons, Thomas mentioned.
The town can also be seeking to develop DenverTrack, which invitations Denver automotive homeowners to register their automobiles to be tracked by GPS if they’re stolen. Greater than 2,800 automobiles have been registered in 2023, Thomas mentioned, and no registered drivers noticed their automobiles stolen.
The town can even work with automotive manufacturers like Kia and Hyundai, which have been particularly focused by thieves, to host occasions for automotive homeowners to replace software program of their automobiles to forestall future thefts.
“This needs to be a transparent message that for those who steal a automotive within the metropolis, you can be caught, and you can be prosecuted,” Johnston mentioned. “Meaning you should resolve to both not do it or do it some place else.”
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