Officer Robin Winters of the Cranberry Township Police Department displays the new Automated License Plate Reader cameras that mounted on the back of her patrol car. The system helps police find stolen vehicles or those with expired or suspended registrations by reading the license plates and matching them up with databases.

CRANBERRY TWP — Thanks to a grant from state police, township police have an extra set of eyes on the road to catch stolen vehicles and expired registrations.

The police department recently received an Automated License Plate Reader, or ALPR, system to detect expired vehicle registrations, suspended registrations and stolen vehicles, said Sgt. William Ahlgren of the Cranberry Township Police Department. It is the only police force in Butler County to have the system, he said.

ALPR has two car-mounted cameras that read license plates from passing cars as officers patrol the streets.

“It allows police officers to pay more attention to the road and their environment because they're not focused on stickers from license plates,” Ahlgren said.

It also will help officers find expired registrations after the state this year stopped issuing new vehicle registration stickers. Because the color of the stickers was different each year, it was a quick visual indicator to police officers if a car was in compliance, Ahlgren said.

And without the sticker to put on license plates, Ahlgren said they anticipate people getting lax about registering their vehicles on time.

Cranberry Township Police got their ALPR system at the end of May and equipped two cars in the fleet to use the system.

A complete ALPR system can cost from $16,000 to $20,000, Ahlgren said. Cranberry was fortunate to be given their system through the state police's auto theft task force, he said.

Jerry Andree, township manager, said the ALPR system lines up with the township's priority to use technology to enhance public safety and help the police department's efforts in auto theft prevention and recovery.

“The township values collaboration with all levels of government in support of our local government responsibilities, including public safety,” Andree said.

There are two cameras mounted on the trunk of the patrol car, one facing forward and one facing backward, to catch cars going in either direction.

When a plate matches up with PennDOT's or the National Crime Information Center's databases as being expired, suspended or stolen, the system dings and lights up the screen on the patrol car's computer.

Ahlgren said it can be overwhelming at first as the system dings frequently when driving around the township's heavily traveled roads.

The ALPR system shows a picture of the back of the car, a close-up image of the license plate and a digital reading of what the system thinks the license plate says.

The system does misread sometimes. A damaged plate, a hitch ball on a truck or a weird angle can cause misreads. Sometimes it also picks up numbers on mailboxes and businesses.

It is up to the police officer to match up the picture of the plate with what the system has interpreted. If it all matches, they can initiate a traffic stop.

“We will continue to use it,” Ahlgren said. “It's pretty impressive.”