Crime & Safety
Got Parking Tickets? No More Hiding in Plain Sight
The Darien Police Department's automated license plate reader checks tags against the National Crime Information Center database.
If you've been ducking parking tickets in Darien, now would be a good time to pay up.
Look inside a Darien police car and you'll find more than just a radio, lights and sirens. You'll also find a lot of computers.
These days, police officers spend as much time on the keyboard as the firing range, using technology to identify and capture criminals. They're also looking for scofflaws.
Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
MOBILE COMPUTERS
Darien's police cars have large touch-screens that connect the officer with the National Crime Information Center database of millions of people and their vehicles. At a keystroke, officers can see a real-time map of Darien, along with the GPS coordinates of every other police car and the calls they are responding to.
Darien cops can even text each other instantly to ask questions. And to save on paperwork at the end of their shifts, officers can cut, paste and e-mail themselves relevant data from crime reports.
Find out what's happening in Darienwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
But now there's yet another screen, showing output of the automated License Plate Reader under testing by the Darien PD. Hooked up to sophisticated cameras on the bumpers, the LPR can scan up to 15 license plates per second.
Using special software, the plates are read, the numbers flashed to the NCIC and, if they are found to be breaking the law, the details are shown on screen and a recorded voice tells the officer about the offense.
This reporter took a ride recently with Officer Keri Isaac, when the LPR system identified two offenders who were stopped and arrested. And that was in just 90 minutes.
In one case a Bridgeport woman had been driving with no auto insurance since January. In another, a Wilton resident had an expired license and no registration on her car since 2008. Both cars were towed and the women face fines in excess of $250.
CATCHING SCOFFLAWS
While the LPR is under evaluation, Darien PD is expanding the databases it searches by adding the town's list of parking violators.
If the LPR finds a parked car with more than three outstanding parking tickets, an e-mail with the plate number and location is sent to the Department of Public Works. Within minutes DPW can install a Denver boot, which incapacitates the car until all fines are paid.
The hi-tech comes at a high price: $15,000 for the LPR and about $1,900 a year for hardware and software. Motor vehicle tickets don't generate money for the town coffers, as those fines go to the state.
But parking tickets do accrue to the town, hence the interest in catching scofflaws.
Darien Police Chief Duane Lovello is impressed with the gear and the productivity it brings to his force.
He notes that the LPR also keeps a database of every plate it has ever seen, where and when. So if a crime occurs on a Wednesday night, a search of the LPR's archives will show if and when the suspect vehicle has been seen in Darien or other LPR-equipped towns in recent weeks.
"It's a tool, not a solution," says Chief Lovello. "You can have great equipment, but you still need the human element. Good police work is doing more than finding expired plates."
Officer Isaac noted that processing a car with expired registration may result in a vehicle search that turns up drugs, burglar tools or stolen merchandise.
