The Sacramento County Probation Department announced that it has recovered 100 vehicles since equipping two department vehicles with Automated License Plate Reader technology in April 2010.
The 100th car, a 1995 Honda Accord, was reported stolen on Dec. 1 in North Sacramento, and it was recovered less than two miles from where it was taken, according to a Probation Department news release.
In an effort to enhance victim restoration, the department equipped two vehicles with the Automated License Plate Reader technology, which uses cameras mounted on patrol cars to automatically scan and cross-match license plates against a statewide list of stolen vehicles.
More than 3,000 license plates an hour can be analyzed while probation officers are doing routine caseload supervision in the community, officials said. A license plate reader camera also is mounted on the Probation Department's building at Florin-Perkins Road.
Officials noted that the Sacramento area is ranked sixth in the nation as a "hot spot" for stolen cars.
Probation Chief Don Meyer said the Sacramento County Probation Department is the only probation agency in California using the Automated License Plate Reader system.
"This technology helps to restore victims by recovering vehicles sooner but does not take us away from our primary mission of public safety," Meyer said in a written statement.
Several of the recovered vehicles belonged to victims who depended on them to get to work or school. Officials said vehicles often are stolen in low-income neighborhoods.
Five cars were recovered in the Probation Department's Adult Center Parking lot, according to the news release. Of the 100 cars recovered so far, one had been stolen during a carjacking in South Sacramento, and two cars were occupied when they were located, resulting in three arrests.
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