Plate Reader Helps Bust Carjacker Teens In Mercedes

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Automatic plate readers are used in quite a few cities as a way to catch not only car thieves but also people with active warrants or who are suspects in other crimes. Yet again the technology is in the news after Morton Grove Police in Illinois caught some teens in two stolen Mercedes after getting a hit from the system.

Stolen car fleeing police causes multi-vehicle accident with injuries.

According to police, back on the evening of March 4 they were alerted to the presence of the Mercedes in the city and officers moved to catch both, but the drivers fled. They were able to track both stolen vehicles down, although one was abandoned immediately as the suspects took off on foot and the other was crashed as the suspects tried to flee again.

Perhaps the kids didn’t realize they were driving around in a city where cameras could automatically track their movements and that’s how police were able to find them so easily. Officers were able to arrest all the suspects riding in those two cars, although one might be totaled.

A report from Patch indicates one car was rented through an app, but we’re not sure which one. That’s interesting since we’ve covered how thieves have learned how to exploit Turo, the peer-to-peer car rental app.

The other Mercedes, an E550, was stolen in an armed carjacking earlier the day of the chase. Police say they found a handgun.

This is yet another of more cases than we can even cover where an automatic plater reader has alerted police to the presence of a stolen vehicle, leading to its recovery and the arrest of the suspected thieves.

But does this mean the technology is a net positive? Some have concerns about plate readers and potential invasion of privacy, especially since some local governments are using the tech to track the movements of vehicles, feeding that data into an algorithm which then helps them conclude if someone is engaged in illegal activities.

Image via Morton Grove Police Department/Facebook

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