High-Tech Help, Is It Working?

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Story Published: Jun 18, 2009 at 6:08 PM PDT

By Sade Malloy

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Yakima -- License plate readers are hitting the Yakima Valley as a way to spot stolen cars. Yakima Police Department just showed off the technology Thrusday. But we wanted to know how well it's working.

Stopping Yakima's stolen car trend and getting YPD some high-tech help. "I'd like to say we can't recover any stolen cars because there aren't any, that's the goal," says Chief Sam Granato, Yakima Police Department.

Yakima Police Department license plate readers have caught at least five stolen cars in the three weeks it's been up and running. But the cameras haven't been as successful for the Yakima Sheriff's Office. After three months YSO has had only one hit.

Part of the problem is the location of the readers they're only scanning plates here in the Upper Valley limiting the search for stolen cars.
"A lot of our recovered stolens are found well after the fact in the Lower Valley they're found in orchards and those types of things," says Chief Dave Thompson, Yakima Sheriff's Office.

Right now YSO has one car mounted with cameras and only one deputy who knows how to use the technology. Yakima Police Chief Sam Granato says his cameras are running 24 hours a day 7 days a week and that eventually all of their officers will be trained on the equipment. "It's running through all of Yakima we don't restrict whoever is driving it to one beat," says Chief Sam Granato, Yakima Police Department.

YSO will now start running their cameras in the Upper and Lower Valley but they'll still only have one deputy trained.
Action News asks,"Why not train all the deputies so the car can be running all the time?"
"That boils down to maintenance of the vehicle and costs," says Chief Dave Thompson, Yakima Sheriff's Office.

The more the car is used the quicker it ages and no one wants this technology on a car that's out of commission.

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