The Dayton (Ohio) Police Department has begun using license-plate readers to help identify stolen cars, respond to missing children alerts, and pick up people with outstanding arrest warrants, the Dayton Daily News reports.
The readers were purchased using a homeland security grant and have drawn criticism from the Ohio chapter of the ACLU, who is making the claim that they "may actually enhance racial profiling."
The license-plate reader system was produced by ELSAG, and is shown in action during a video demonstration produced by the newspaper.