Police officers in Mesa, AZ are among the latest law enforcement agencies to test the deployment of automatic license plate scanners to detect stolen cars, and other vehicles and drivers with legal issues. The system they are using is called the mobile plate hunter.

These license plate scanners automatically photograph, store & track location via GPS, and identify hundreds of vehicles per hour. The plate numbers are scanned and instantly matched against a database of vehicles. If any hits come up, the officer in the vehicle is immediately notified, and the car is stopped, or towed, and the driver arrested.

According to reports, there are more than 1000 of these license plate scanners deployed in police vehicles, nationwide. Arizona law enforcement agencies known to be currently using these systems include Mesa police, the state Department of Public Safety, the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the Oro Valley Police. They cost about $25,000 per unit, but no doubt that price will continue to drop rapidly as the technology becomes cheaper, and more widespread.

It won’t be long before these systems are standard equipment in all police cruisers, and very possibly other law enforcement and state vehicles. And the history of your plate being scanned can be stored indefinitely. Even if you have done nothing wrong, that data exists, and can be accessed in the future to log your past locations.

The larger implications these systems being in the field is that it will be increasing difficult to get away with driving on a suspended license, or if you have an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear. It is simple for law enforcement agencies nationwide to share data on drivers and their license plates.

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If you are facing any criminal charge in Arizona, please contact our attorneys and take advantage of your free consultation. There is no obligation, and the evaluation is complete confidential.

In May, Arizona created a Violent Criminal Apprehension Team to work on tracking down fugitives, a backlog of nearly 60,000 outstanding felony warrants statewide. The VCAT is credited with more than 230 fugitive warrant arrests in Maricopa County since May.

The Department of Public Safety is launching a searchable public database of felons with known outstanding warrants, and as a clearing how for information and tips to VCAT.

Any felony warrant for failure to appear is a very serious matter. If you find yourself in this situation, get the best criminal defense legal advice you can. An attorney can help you avoid the most serious consequences that could result from you being caught. If you are prepared to address the warrant before being tracked down and picked up by Arizona law enforcement, you have many opportunities to make your case, explain your situation, and negotiate a reasonable outcome.

And it’s not just felonies that are at issue. If you have a warrant for a failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge, even one that is decades old, could come back to haunt you anytime. Now, there probably aren’t squads of agents chasing you down for a suspended license warrant, or other misdemeanor charge. But it is all too easy to be found these days.

Passive surveillance and monitoring on police cruisers commonly locates driver’s with outstanding warrants. Automatic License Plate Scanning Technology, matched with criminal justice and DMV databases linked nationwide, can flag your car just driving down the street. You will be pulled over and arrested.

It could even happen on a decades old, out of state warrant. New technology linking this information comes online every day.

For any warrant, failure to appear in court, bail jumping, or other criminal defense matter, please contact us for a free legal case evalulation.

Police in Scottsdale, AZ are now using automatic license plate reader (ALRP) to scan all cars on the road within visual scanner range of a police car. What this means is that, if you are driving a stolen car, or of there are any known issues relating to the car or driver, such as a suspended license, or outstanding warrant, the police will be instantly alerted by the automated license plate scanner.

photo credit: elphotographo
For many people, the routine scanning and tracking of vehicles is very “big brother”, and brings up civil liberties issues, but courts have had no problems in affirming the rights of the police to do this.

The bottom line, is that you just can’t expect to get away with driving while your license is under suspension or if you have any kind of old warrant for failure to appear in court. Even legal issues that are decades old can suddenly show up on computer records that are shared with police and law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Please contact our Arizona law offices to help you get out from under any outstanding warrant, failure to appear in court, or related criminal legal problem, before it is too late. If you are pulled over and arrested, you will lose the leverage you may have in dealing with a problem pro actively, and negotiating a good outcome.