New Ottawa license plate cameras to be used for active crimes; not surveillance

Ottawa police chief said a burglary suspect is an example of the type of case they may pursue

New license plate readers bought in July and approved last week for use in the city of Ottawa will be for tracking active criminals, Ottawa Police Chief Brent Roalson said.

He said the system is not going to be used to track down suspects with minor warrants or to write parking tickets.

“The whole purpose of using the flag system currently on inbound and outbound traffic for the city is to track say, a burglary suspect from another jurisdiction that’s coming into our town,” Roalson said. “That information would be used for an investigation to make sure we can prevent a crime or apprehend the criminal.”

An agreement with the city of Ottawa and the Illinois Department of Transportation allowing the Ottawa Police Department to place license plate readers around town was approved last week by the City Council, although the police department doesn’t know yet where the readers will be placed.

These readers aren’t attached to vehicles. Instead, they will be stationed at certain places in the city to take pictures of license plates as they pass and police can access them for use in Amber Alert situations or to investigate a string of burglaries, for examples. The cameras are typically attached to something stationary like a highly trafficked intersection and are designed to take photos of license plates as vehicles travel past.

The software inside the camera runs the photo through a database set up by the police department to track plates connected to ongoing investigations. The readers are designed to only flag license plates connected to an ongoing crime, a missing person or someone facing criminal charges

Roalson said these cameras are not for tracking ordinary residents and provided a recent example of how the readers will be used.

“We had a gentleman from Wisconsin that came into town with 32 arrest warrants on him and with the camera that was active, we were able to put that information in the database,” Roalson said. “The US Marshals came down and apprehended that person without an issue.”

Timothy J. Rohr, who Roalson referenced, had three nationwide warrants for numerous charges of felony bail jumping, battery, criminal damage, possession of a controlled substance and possession of methamphetamine, the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office said.

Roalson said the cameras would be useful, were they active at the time, for the recent vehicle thefts and break-ins that occurred last week because police would be able to track the plates and find the vehicle.

Ottawa police reported the department has taken numerous reports of multiple vehicles being burglarized mostly on Ottawa’s southwest side. The incidents mostly occurred on Briarcrest Drive, Cimmaron Way and Thornberry Drive. Three motor vehicles also were stolen during these occurrences.

“A regular vehicle traveling through where the cameras are set up like I do on a daily basis, it picks up the license plate and it’s just in the database but not used for anything or tracking purposes whatsoever,” Roalson said. “The data is used primarily for evidentiary purposes and an investigation of a larger nature, not someone’s traffic tickets or anything to that effect.”

Ottawa police and fire station