Police in Amarillo are always looking for a way to catch the bad guys, right? They're also constantly trying to update their technology in being able to do so.

One of the things we USED to have were the red light cameras, but those are gone now. Not that I run red lights, but I used to slam my brakes on if I saw a yellow light just so I wouldn't get snapped. I don't know if that's safer than just going through the light.

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One of the latest pieces of technology introduced here in Amarillo is the license plate readers. When we first heard about these we were a bit up in arms to be honest.

Many of us thought it was a way for police to literally track everyone in the city and we felt like it was an invasion of privacy. Well, APD heard those concerns, and they've only grown a bit since then.

Lt. Shane Chadwick, commander of the Amarillo Regional Crime Center recently opened up a bit about the readers, and the reasons behind them to help quell our fears a bit.

WHAT ARE THE READERS FOR

The license plate readers are there for several reasons, but not to track our every movement.

They're installed to help track stolen vehicles, help assist in finding missing children, and for crimes the police are working on solving.

Also, when someone is pulled over by an officer, they have a license plate reader (LPR) in their vehicle that when it runs the plate, it can give them info that will help them protect themselves.

The readers can let the officer know if they are a danger to the officer, or any of the above info.

WHAT DO THE READERS NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL

In order for the LPR's to do their job, they don't need to pick up the full plate. It can pick up a partial plate, and APD can cross-reference it against the color and make of the car in the database.

According to Chadwick, the technology isn't strong enough to search it down to model, so there's still a fair amount of searching they have to do sometimes to find the vehicle they're looking for. Without at least a partial plate, they can't search for anything via the LPR.

IS ALL OUR DATA BEING STORED AND SOLD

This of course was one of the biggest questions and concerns with these. The LPR's can pick up quite a fair amount of data, however, it is not stored and sold.

Chadwick told our TV partners KAMR "Our policy on retention for LPR data is 180 days, which is six months but, to be honest with you, it’s too expensive to keep that much data, so Flock Safety only allows 30, you can buy more retention, but it’s so expensive that we choose not to, so it’s like the idea of a DVR, after 30 days, day 31 it falls off and it is deleted and purged,".

If you still have concerns about the LPR's, or simply want to see how they work in order to quell your fears, Chadwick invites anyone to come by the Regional Crime Center and they'll be happy to show you how it all works.

Amarillo's Most Wanted: Help Bring These Fugitives to Justice

These are the fugitives who make up Amarillo's Most Wanted list. The individuals on this list have been accused of serious crimes and are considered a danger to society.

If you have any information about these FUGITIVES, you are urged to call Amarillo Crime Stoppers at (806) 374-4400 or submit a Web Tip by visiting THIS LINK

NEVER TRY TO DETAIN THE FUGITIVE YOURSELF!

You do not have to give your name. AMARILLO CRIME STOPPERS will pay a reward of up to $300 and you WILL remain anonymous. 

Updated as of 8/06/2023

Gallery Credit: Sarah Clark

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