OFFICER Labs Review of PlateRanger from SoundThinking
Decades ago as our Editorial Director was going through the police academy, he was taught that over 80% of all drug arrests and arrest warrant services came from traffic stops. Finally, there was the add-on tidbit that vehicle descriptions and license plate numbers played a major role in finding suspects for other crimes, especially those of a violent nature. Today we find nothing has changed. The biggest challenge is in finding vehicles and generating actionable intelligence that empowers law enforcement professionals to prevent crimes before they happen or find the perpetrators quickly after the crime. Enter the PlateRanger ALPR system from SoundThinking, Inc.
PlateRangertm, powered by Rekor®, is an AI-based vehicle and license plate recognition system designed to provide actionable leads to improve efficiency and accelerate investigations across real-time and post-incident workflows. Our test team’s first step was to receive a demonstration from the PlateRanger product team so that we could understand what the system can do and why. The power of the AI included in PlateRanger took us by surprise. Specifically, the system’s ability to correlate vehicle information across multiple camera sources and generate real-time investigative alerts expanded well beyond traditional plate-capture workflows.
All ALPRs across the country have faced challenges and complaints related to privacy and the protection thereof. One of the first things our test team learned was that PlateRanger automatically deletes scanned data in accordance with agency retention policies and any applicable legal regulations governing that data.
At some point one of our test team members made the comment that, “Having the word ‘ranger’ in the name made it sound like it was a virtual force of sworn personnel, all looking for a vehicle or license plate based on a lookout." What we learned is it kind of is. PlateRanger can monitor live feeds to look for specific vehicles and then give real-time alerts if the wanted vehicle is viewed on any of the available cameras. Each camera becomes a “ranger” looking for the suspect vehicle. We had to be reminded that such monitoring and real-time alerts didn’t apply just to vehicles wanted for potential criminal activity but also to Amber and Silver alerts — a capability that can potentially save the lost or victimized in a timely fashion.
Having seen the demonstration and learned a few surprising things, our team then interviewed Assistant Chief Chris Roberts of the Lancaster, CA Police Department. Lancaster PD (LPD) is a relatively new and quickly growing police department in Los Angeles County, and they work together with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). Just created in 2023, LPD only has 14 sworn officers but employs 72 civilians to support several programs. One of the agency’s biggest accomplishments has been its focus on addressing root cause issues, correcting them quickly, and preventing (their estimate) thousands of potential crimes.
LPD also built a new crime intelligence center (CIC) that the city shares with LASD, U.S. Marshals, and more. Per Asst. Chief Roberts, the city built the CIC with an “innovation first” approach. Experience in the CIC shows that by leveraging PlateRanger to quickly identify wanted vehicles used in violent crimes, LPD or LASD can usually locate the vehicles equally quickly and make the appropriate arrests.
The best example given was when LASD’s Gang Unit was looking for a car captured on a gas station’s video surveillance system. All that could be seen of the car was the edge of an open door. Using PlateRanger's cross-camera correlation capability, the vehicle was identified from a camera at a nearby intersection, fully identified, and then found easily. The function was an easy algorithm: Identify it, find it, and track it until it can be stopped by law enforcement personnel. LPD boasts over 500 cameras in the city, plus a drone and all police vehicle dashcams with the LPR system incorporated. The scale of the network allows investigators to develop broader situational awareness and more rapidly connect vehicle movement across jurisdictions and incidents.
The PlateRanger system is very impressive, and we’re proud to award it the OFFICER Media Group “Tested - Field Rated” Seal of Approval.
To learn more visit https://www.soundthinking.com/law-enforcement/license-plate-recognition-plateranger/
