Camera gives Boise police high-tech help in quest for stolen cars: Cameras on the vehicle record license plates and run them through a database.

Oct 17, 2008 (The Idaho Statesman - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WMT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- One of Boise's high-tech crime fighting tool is a $1-a-year leased SUV.

The vehicle is mounted with cameras that snap photographs of license plates. The plate numbers are automatically compared to a database of stolen cars, and when there's a match, an alarm goes off.

The images captured are put into a database and, if a car is later reported stolen, the database provides details about when the car was spotted and where.

It's a great tool, police said, but one they don't use every day. Car theft is not that big a problem in Idaho's capital city. That's why they are willing to share.

Boise police leased the SUV from the National Insurance Crime Bureau -- a nonprofit insurance industry group dedicated to fighting fraud. In return, Boise police must use the vehicle, download the photos and pay for gas and maintenance.

"For $1 a year, it is worth a try. We have located a handful of stolen cars with it," said police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower. "It has a greater capacity for use. We are only using it a few days a week. Why not share it with other agencies? We are trying to figure out how to do that now."

The cameras can capture thousands of images of license plates for every shift it is being used. The cameras do not photograph the drivers, and the system does not log any personal registration information -- it just logs plate numbers, officials said.

If officers need more detailed information, they simply use their regular mobile computer system, officials say.

Boise police said other Treasure Valley departments haven't asked to use the vehicle. Their only caveat is that Boise police would need an agreement that each agency be responsible for any damage or problems caused while using it.

The Portland Police Department started using similar equipment earlier this month and has already recovered nine stolen cars, said Portland police Sgt. Brian Schmautz. But his department uses the equipment a little differently than Boise police do.

Portland has a much bigger car theft problem -- "5,000 cars were reported stolen here in 2007," Schmautz says -- so Portland police installed the cameras on marked cars assigned to a special unit that investigate stolen car reports.

In contrast, Boise police took reports for 368 stolen vehicles in 2007. Of those, 298 were recovered, and 55 arrests were made in connection with those cases, according to Boise police.

Hightower said most of Boise's car thefts are for joy riding, and those cars are usually quickly abandoned.

The SUV, which is unmarked, has helped in locating a "handful" of stolen cars in the last year, Hightower said.

So far, reports of stolen cars are down for 2008. Since January, 165 vehicles have been reported stolen -110 fewer than were reported stolen during the same period in 2007.

Boise is one of four law enforcement agencies in Idaho to use the technology. The others are Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls police departments and the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office. The costs -- about $150,000 -- are covered by donations or grant money, officials say.

Post Falls police have found about 30 stolen cars in the last 18 months using the technology, said Post Falls police Capt. Scot Haug said. Officers mounted cameras on bridges on Interstate 90 to take pictures of license plates on vehicles in all four lanes. They also mounted a camera on one patrol car, Haug said.

Single patrol cars with the Coeur d'Alene police and Kootenai County Sheriff's Office also have cameras.

The information culled from all the Idaho cameras is managed by the Post Falls police, Haug said.

The Post Falls database currently has about 6.5 million images of license plates captured by the four agencies within the last year. Fresh data about stolen cars from all over Idaho is entered into the data base every morning, Haug said.

Haug said all the images of plates will stay in the server until it gets full. At that point, the oldest images will be purged, he said.

The cameras have other applications that can be helpful in other investigations, police say. If an officer is looking for a particular vehicle, the plate number can be put into the system. If the cameras find that plate, the alarm sounds.

Post Falls police used the image capture technology from I-90 to identify the car of a "brazen" purse snatcher who was targeting Wal-Mart shoppers. Identifying the car was the key that led to the arrest, Haug said.

"It got us the arrest warrant, and we recovered a lot of the property he stole," Haug said.

Boise's Hightower said officers have used the plate matching software to locate suspects' cars for crime other than car theft but haven't used the technology for much more than that.

Portland police Sgt. Brian Schmautz said preventing or quickly recovering stolen cars benefits everyone, since regional car insurance rates are affected by theft rates and how much insurance companies have to pay in settlements.

Patrick Orr: 373-6619

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