Swampscott police want plate reader

SWAMPSCOTT – Swampscott Police Chief Ron Madigan hopes to jump on Lynn?s paddy wagon by budgeting for an automated license plate reader for his department.Madigan appeared before the Capital Improvements Committee Monday to discuss his top budget items, which included the plate reader. Madigan said the technology can read 3,600 plates an hour instead of officers continuously running plates, and can detect if the owner is wanted or had a warrant out for their arrest. The readers can also tell if the owner has unpaid parking tickets or excise taxes. Madigan said his top priority is to find stolen or uninsured vehicles, which he said was a “community concern.”?My interest for law enforcement is to target unregistered cars and people who have warrants or are unlicensed or have suspended licenses,” said Madigan.Madigan said there was a recent “frustrating” situation in which there was a break-in in the same neighborhood as an officer who was driving around a neighborhood looking for a suspect?s car, which the reader would?ve picked up on right away.?Most departments around us have the technology now,” said Madigan. Lynn police added the plate reader to its department in October 2011.Madigan added that funds from fines paid through traffic stops make up about $60,000 of the department?s revenue. “The officers are interest in traffic enforcement to keep the town safe. I don?t want to talk about revenue, but the fact is we do get a majority of money through fines and it goes back into the system,” said Madigan. “It would increase enforcement and go a long way toward funding the technology.”Madigan added that the reader would be relaying information from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, and therefore would be information already out there. He also said officers would call in any red flags before making a stop.Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].