O’Fallon Police Department adding new tool to their arsenal with License Plate Readers

Four license plate readers — a technology tool for law enforcement to assist in criminal investigations — will be installed soon at the intersection of North Green Mount Road and Central Park Drive/Green Mount Crossing Drive in O’Fallon.

The cameras will be located on the mast arms of the traffic signals.

“They are set to be installed any day now,” Police Chief Kirk Brueggeman said.

Referred to as LPRs, they are high-definition cameras that take high-resolution photos of rear license plates. High-speed and computer-controlled, they can collect a driver’s location, along with a date and time a vehicle was there.

This captured data can be compared with information in other databases. Brueggeman said police officers and dispatch personnel can receive real-time reports that are helpful in felony warrants, drug trafficking and stolen vehicles cases, plus Amber and Silver alerts.

He said they provide “additional eyes on the street,” and cited its use in locating the vehicle in a recent homicide case.

“It is very useful for locating plates wanted in serious investigations, stolen vehicles, and other potentially violent crimes. Our goal would be to use these as a deterrent and assist in solving crimes when they occur,” he said.

“It can act as a deterrent by alerting our officers if a stolen or wanted vehicle enters our city. Many times, criminals use stolen vehicles to commit other crimes such as vehicle burglaries and business/residential burglaries,” he said.

Brueggeman said departments including Alton, Belleville, Collinsville, Columbia, Fairview Heights, Glen Carbon, Swansea, and Troy use LPRs.

Data is transmitted through a server in Alton that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) runs. Police departments are in a cooperative with DEA and they own and maintain the data.

“The LPRs are owned by O’Fallon, but the data is stored on a central server operated by the DEA. Many other law enforcement agencies in the metro-east utilize the same network to store LPR data and share it with each other,” he said.

“We have a great relationship with the DEA and currently have an officer assigned full time to the DEA task force,” he added.

Currently, from Carlinville to Chester, there are 220 connected LPRs — 85% are in Illinois, and 15% on the Missouri side. St. Louis city and county run through a different server.

Because St. Clair County owns the traffic signal equipment at the intersection, the city council approved an agreement on the construction and maintenance with the county Nov. 7.

Other proposed locations, camera cost

Brueggeman said they have several other proposed locations to include 15 different cameras in total. Green Mount Road and Regency Park, U.S. Highway 50 and Venita, and U.S. Highway 50 and Hartman Lane, Central Park and Hartman Lane, and U.S. 50/Interstate 64 at Auffenberg are being planned. The city already has a mobile one in use.

Restricted (seized) funds are being used for the project. The cameras cost $7,000 each, and for Green Mount and Central Park, Shiloh is splitting the cost. The additional expense is the cost of electricity for operating them.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, LPRs have been an effective tool for law enforcement agencies, “cutting down on the time required for investigations and decreasing costs for agencies struggling with limited budgets.”

More about LPRs

In June, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a law permitting more license plate reader cameras along state highways in St. Clair, Madison and 20 other counties throughout Illinois. The state’s 2023 budget included $20 million to expand this technology.

The Illinois State Police first used them for investigations in the Chicago area and now use them across the state.

LPRs collect information that is already publicly available.

This story was originally published November 15, 2022 at 11:57 AM.