Council Receives Update on LPR/Optical Camera Pilot Project

In April of 2019, the Addison Police Department (APD) launched the License Plate Reader (LPR) and Optical Camera Pilot Program that Council approved in the summer of 2018. The intent of the project is to use cutting-edge technology to enhance APD's crime and mitigation strategies. Funds approved by voters during the 2012 bond election for citywide wireless applications and secure network infrastructure for video, data, and voice applications for Addison's first responders was used to fund the pilot program.  

At the May 26 City Council Meeting, Police Chief Paul Spencer shared the findings of the LPR program with Council. Chief Spencer shared that APD patrol officers and detectives use the new tool daily and it has been directly responsible for solving over two dozen crimes. The equipment is alerting officers in the field when a criminal enters Addison neighborhoods, providing valuable forensic evidence after a crime does occur, and providing officers real-time video footage from the optical cameras that is accessible in the office or the squad car.

The Optical Camera Pilot Program has seen similar success. APD detectives have been able to manually use facial recognition (FR) software to solve eight cases where a victim was targeted by a partially known or completely unknown person. Investigators discovered FR software was extremely helpful for identifying suspects on social media if they posted high quality pictures of themselves despite using false or incomplete profile names. Using this method arrest warrants were written for the suspects of two residential burglaries, a commercial burglary, an aggravated robbery, and a case of credit card abuse.

Council asked Chief Spencer to develop a plan to expand the programs into other locations in Addison.

You can watch the Council's LPR/Optical Camera discussion here, review the presentation here, and read the report here.