Having a valid license plate on your car is one of the most important parts of ownership. Naturally, this is because it helps identify vehicles. Nowadays, cities across the county are employing various traffic cams to help track down people who have broken the law in some fashion, and this use of technology includes license plate readers. Recently, police officers were able to use automatic license plate readers to conduct a traffic stop and find a man with over half a million dollars in warrants. 

The license plate on your car is easily visible to traffic cams

Traffic cams can go a long way in helping keep cities across the county safe. This is especially the case, as police departments can use them on car license plates to find people who may present a risk to their local communities. According to KRON 4, this was recently the case in San Francisco. 

Earlier this month, traffic cams alerted the Colma police department of a vehicle that someone had used to commit a theft the day before. After getting to the vehicle’s location, the police officers conducted a traffic stop and found that Derek McDonald, a passenger in the car, was involved in the crime. 

However, it doesn’t stop there. After checking his information, the police officers learned that Derek had warrants. One of his warrants was for a $500,000 felony, and the other was for over a $100,000 misdemeanor. Naturally, the law enforcement officers confronted the man about the hefty warrants. He then decided to run and ended up jumping into a nearby creek. From there, three police departments assisted Colma PD in locating the man and finally arrested him. 

The police booked him in the San Mateo County Jail on charges of resisting and obstructing a police officer as well as his two felonies. Of course, it’s entirely possible police officers would have eventually found Derek, but the use of traffic cams made the justice process much more swift.