(La Porte, IN) - The city of La Porte is going to have license plate readers installed to help crack down on crime.

 

The city’s Board of Public Works & Safety on Wednesday unanimously approved a two year contract with the provider.  Under the contract, the provider will install and maintain about a dozen cameras reading the license plate numbers on vehicles.

 

Police Chief Paul Brettin said the devices are going to be placed at entranceways to the city.

 

He said information about suspected offenders and vehicles associated with them will be entered into a system for the license plate readers to scan on passing vehicles and alert police of any matches.

 

“Whether it be stolen, known for drug use. Any crimes.  Anything like that it’s going to alert,” Brettin said.

 

Brettin said La Porte and other law enforcement agencies will be tied into the same system to provide a wider coverage area.

 

He said it appears La Porte is one of the last communities in Northwest Indiana to turn to license plate readers, which are now in the process of being installed in

Michigan City.

The enpense will be higher the first year because of the start-up costs, but then the annual payment to the provider is about $27,000, he said.

 

Board member Mark Kosior said a lot of people are concerned about invasion of privacy but there are no violations since the license plates being detected are on vehicles using  public roads.