If you're driving a stolen or unregistered car or have a fistful of outstanding parking tickets, you may want to think twice about driving through Broome County.

The Broome County Sheriff's Office, Binghamton Police Bureau and New York State Police at Kirkwood have partnered in an effort to equip patrol cars with mobile license-plate readers, which will sound an alarm when a violation is detected from among more than 400,000 license plates in a computer database.

Three cars -- one for each agency -- are equipped with the units. The two digital-imaging cameras, the size of footballs, are mounted on the roof and connected to interior laptop computers containing all licensing data available from the state Department of Motor Vehicles and any additional vehicular information local officials wish to input.

The units will give police "X-ray vision," said New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Director Chauncey Parker. DCJS has given Broome County and Binghamton the units because they are involved in the state's Operation Impact program. Each unit costs about $20,000.

How effective is the unit? It can scan 60 license plates a minute, officials said.

"In the past week, we have scanned some 6,000 license plates and come up with 12 arrests for a variety of vehicle and traffic violations," Broome County Sheriff David E. Harder said.

After taking a picture of the plate, the unit will sound an alarm if the license plate belongs to a stolen vehicle, if the owner's license is suspended or revoked, or there's some other special item listed.

"The biggest problem is that the officer running the unit then must validate the authenticity of the license plate and identify the car," Binghamton Patrolman Scott J. Donahue said.

"Someday, the units hopefully will be in every police car in New York state," Parker said. "If we give law enforcement the tools, they will get the job done."



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