COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Division of Police has a new tool to help track down criminals and patrol the city's streets.
NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS on some new technology.
Five of the city's police cruisers, one in each zone, recently were fitted with special cameras.
The cameras take a picture of every vehicle and license plate the cruiser travels past.
The license plate information is automatically, instantly and accurately analyzed in a county-wide computer system.
The officer is alerted if a red flag were to be raised.
"It will tell us if there's a stolen vehicle in that area that it's reading -- tells you that very fast," said Sgt. Todd Anderson. "It gives us information on even parking violations."
If you're within 25 feet of a cruiser fitted with the camera, it will take an image of your vehicle and license plate.
Anderson said it also doesn't matter what direction you’re driving, if it's day or night or the weather.
"If a cruiser is responding to a crime scene, even a major scene, it's going to take pictures of those cars leaving that area. We can document the time, the date, of that. We can go back and research those," he said.
During an Amber Alert, officials can run the suspect's plate to see if a cruiser has passed the vehicle and where that was.
Anderson said it certainly beats checking plates manually.
"Sometimes, we might have 15, 20 tags they have to run. That takes a long time to get that information back," he said.
CDP has been using two portable units for the past four years to track down numerous criminals.
The new mounted cameras undoubtedly will help track down more and were purchased with funds from a homeland security grant.
Anderson said the cameras are extremely accurate, but every once in a while an officer may have to manually check something such as an out-of-state plate.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com -- Where Accuracy Matters.
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