A well-known retailer in the Miami area had tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise stolen from two malls on three separate occasions. The properties had closed-caption TV cameras, but the best that the loss prevention staff could determine from video footage was that two people were involved and drove a dark Kia, with the first letter on the license plate a “J.”
Luckily both malls also have license plate recognition (LPR) cameras installed at all ingress and egress points, which ultimately provided the detailed information—both the license plate number and vehicle specifics—needed for law enforcement to pursue the suspects.
LPR cameras use advanced optical character recognition (OCR) and image-processing algorithms to extract license plate information. They can also recognize vehicle details like the color and type, day or night. In this case, the vehicle was navy and all the license plate details were clear.
That’s because the retail properties were using Insight LPR’s Matrix Central platform, the system that manages data created by both fixed and mobile LPR cameras. Insight LPR boasts a ninety-six percent capture rate—taking a photo of a license plate as it passes a camera and then turning that into data—both day and night.
“Using Insight LPR technology’s rich data management application, mall security was able to search for all Kias that passed through the mall property on the date in question and between the hours of the thefts,” Jared Kirby, director of business development for Insight LPR, said. “Because the LPR cameras captured the full license plate number, they were able to immediately search and analyze the data, then quickly identify whom the vehicle was registered to so law enforcement could locate the suspects.”
This is just one example of how Insight LPR’s proprietary fixed and mobile LPR cameras are helping to turn a cold case into a warm lead. Additionally, Insight LPR data can be integrated with existing security services to provide more access to data that will ultimately help communities and properties better deter and solve crime.
For more information about Insight LPR, visit their website.
