(PUEBLO COUNTY, Colo.) — The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) is utilizing a new tool to help deputies in their search for stolen cars, missing people, and cars suspected to have been used in a crime.

According to PCSO, the Sheriff’s Office recently acquired 73 Automobile License Plate Recognition (ALPR) systems, which is an automated system installed in each marked patrol car as part of the dash cam setup. PCSO said the ALPR can read up to three lanes of view, regardless of whether the cars are heading toward or away from the patrol car.

PCSO said the system reads the numbers and letters on a license plate with a detection distance of up to one mile, and the camera can capture images of a car and its license plate, comparing them to different state and national databases.

Once the ALPR receives a hit with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), deputies receive both an audio and visual alert through the onboard camera. This process of reading the plate, comparing to the NCIC, and notifying the deputy occurs in less than a second. Deputies must then visually confirm what state the license plate is from to determine if the hit is valid locally, PCSO said.

“This technology is a useful tool for our deputies in tracking down stolen vehicles and vehicles of interest in other crimes, but I want to be clear that deputies must verify the information obtained from the reader before taking any enforcement action,” said Lucero.

After reading a plate, information is stored for up to 180 days, and PCSO said the data can then be used as an investigative tool for law enforcement for things like identifying cars that fail to yield, narcotics investigations into the location of suspect vehicles, identifying cars involved in theft and burglary cases, and identifying the travel path of a vehicle of interest.

Data can be shared between law enforcement agencies as well, PCSO said.

“This is another great tool that our deputies now have at their fingertips to assist in identifying stolen vehicles and helping with criminal investigations,” said Pueblo County Sheriff David J. Lucero. “We have had this technology for less than a month and it is already making a positive impact on our efforts to locate stolen vehicles and stolen license plates.”