License Reading Cameras Go Up Near Gwinnett Place Mall

DULUTH, GA - At least 50 license plate reading cameras are going up near Gwinnett Place Mall to help police fight crime, according to the AJC.

The cameras - placed in a Community Improvement District or CID - automatically scan license plates as cars pass by in the area ouside Duluth. They give the police access to the data recorded by the cameras, and the police will use that in criminal investigations, the AJC reported.

Police said there have been 32 criminal incidents in the CID in the past three months - 14 entering auto cases, five auto thefts and two aggravated assaults. The new cameras will cover all of the areas where those incidents occurred, Sgt. J.R. Richter, a spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department said, according to the AJ

The Gwinnett County Police Department and Flock Safety are partnering to add the license plate readers. The CID joins other metro locations that use the cameras to help fight crime, including Marietta, Sandy Springs and DeKalb County.

The agreement is for Flock to install 50 cameras in 2020 at the cost of $2,000 each — $100,000 total — with the option to add more in the future, said said Joe Allen, the CID’s executive director. The cost of the 50 cameras will cover their use for two years.

The additional layer of security will be a “game changer” for law enforcement patrols of the area, Allen told the AJC.

“This is something that the police can take advantage of and use as a tool to fight crime,” Allen said. “It’s proactive in that it will alert them when a tag comes up that’s on a wanted list, whether it’s the FBI or Gwinnett.”