(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Oak Forest is the latest suburb to install a license plate reading camera system to catch criminals and find missing people.
The Oak Forest Police Department now has 16 license plate reading cameras within its boundaries, most of them installed in the last two weeks.
According to Sgt. Ryan Burnett, initially, there were four of the cameras from Flock Safety installed in the city. He said that, after getting through some red tape with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), 12 more license plate reading cameras were installed in the last two weeks.
“Obviously, [they’re on] our main thoroughfares,” the sergeant said. “We have them on Cicero, 159th Street. We also try to put them in some spots where, I won’t call them problem areas, but maybe where we have a little more crime.”
Burnett said the Oak Forest cameras are connected with hundreds of others around the Chicago area and the country, which operate Flock Safety systems.
He said it’s already helped in catching someone wanted for a carjacking and another crime.
“It was carjacked elsewhere, but it was used in a crime here in Oak Forest,” Burnett said. A suspect was captured in another town that had a license plate reading camera system.
Burnett said being part of the Flock Safety system helped close a couple of missing persons cases.
“A missing person report was filed, so we had a vehicle description for the person that was missing, and we were able to actually find that person on a Flock camera in Tennessee,” he said.
Burnett said the person was okay.
He said the system has also been helpful in the case of a senior citizen who was missing.
“We had a Silver Alert for a gentleman who went missing, and we were able to actually find their vehicle on a Flock camera in Maywood,” Burnett said. “There was a Flock camera. We were able to track that person down to a gas station nearby and ultimately, we were able to locate him.”
Oak Forest spokeswoman Chrissy Maher said the city is spending $42,000 per year on its license plate reading camera system.
Burnett said he’d eventually like to see more cameras installed.
“They’re really a cost-effective way to prevent crime,” he added.
Flock Safety told WBBM Newsradio it works with more than 140 law enforcement agencies in Illinois and has license plate reading cameras in other Chicago-area communities, such as Joliet, Burr Ridge, Palos Heights and Braidwood.
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