Using Vigilant Solutions' investigative platform including license plate recognition (LPR), analytics and commercial data, a police department in the central United States has seized half a million dollars and 59 kilos of cocaine. The agency has asked not to be named in the release but is willing to speak to other law enforcement agencies about its experiences with the system.

A sergeant at the agency comments, “We began using the Vigilant Solutions LPR system back in 2014. Like most departments, resources are tight and we must evaluate where we choose to spend money each year. As we were coming up on our annual renewal with Vigilant, I reached out to several departments asking for their opinions on the Vigilant system.

"The response was overwhelming, and I received numerous examples of success stories enabled by the Vigilant Solutions system. We have Vigilant camera systems and they do a great job, but for my detectives and analysts, Vigilant’s commercial LPR data is key. I was told that this is an essential tool that they use every single day. One example provided was in a relatively large seizure of half a million dollars, and a very large quantity of cocaine totaling almost 60 kilos. I was told that we would not have located this stash house without access to Vigilant’s data and LEARN analytic suite,” the sergeant says.

Vigilant’s investigative platform is powered by license plate recognition (LPR), analytics, and commercial data including over 4.5 billion nationwide detections. Every day, agencies of all sizes use Vigilant to develop leads and solve crimes including Part I and Part II crimes. Vigilant’s technology enables agencies to easily share data and facilitate investigations across jurisdictions and across the country.

“Ironically, there are several nearby states attempting to pass laws that would limit law enforcement’s access to this vehicle detection data simply because the camera was not located on a law enforcement patrol car. The data is exactly the same, and it is completely anonymous in nature with no personal information collected. Agencies adhere to a strong federal law known as the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) requiring a permissible purpose to connect a license plate number with its registered owner. I am glad that our state has taken time to understand the technology and its value to law enforcement; it really is a game changer in helping us combat crime,” the sergeant says.

“This drug bust shows the power of Vigilant’s investigative platform. The agency was well trained on how to exploit the value of their own real-time data, plus Vigilant’s commercial data, and that is what led them to the stash house. Even agencies that don’t have their own cameras can benefit from our commercial data like this agency did,” said Tom Joyce, VP of product development for Vigilant Solutions.