MPD To Acquire License Plate Recognition System

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

The Mesquite Police Department will soon be acquiring new equipment which will connect it into a nationwide license plate recognition database.

On Tuesday, June 28, the Mesquite City Council voted to approve $110,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for a five year contract using Vigilant License Plate Recognition (LPR) technology.

The LPR system will include a number of cameras, placed in strategic spots in Mesquite, to take photos of vehicle license plates. The system captures date, time and GPS coordinates of where the photo was taken. The data is then stored in a national database which can be searched by authorized law enforcement personnel all across the country.

Mesquite Police Chief MaQuade Chesley told the council that the advantage of the Vigilant system is its broad network being used by other law enforcement entities throughout the region.

“The basis of the program is to combat crime and terrorism: Amber Alerts, wanted vehicles, stolen vehicles and things of that nature,” Chesley said. “So any vehicles stolen out of Vegas, if it comes up to Mesquite it would notify us. And if we have a stolen vehicle out of Mesquite, the same thing. It works as well in Utah and Arizona. So we are part of that database which is a powerful force multiplier for our police department.”

Chesley acknowledged that there are other LPR systems out there. But Vigilant is the one in use by neighboring law enforcement which makes it more advantageous.
“Vigilant seems to be the best system to allow us the most data; especially in the Las Vegas Valley,”

Chesley said. “Our partners in policing down there; it would be most important for us to be with them.”
Mesquite Finance Director Nikki Thorne pointed out to the council that, since the request would use federal American Rescue Plan funds, it would have to follow strict procurement policies according to federal guidelines.

“We will be happy to work with the police department and the IT department to make sure that happens,” Thorn said.

Councilman Wes Boger made a motion to approve the proposal. The motion was adopted with a unanimous vote of the council.