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Winston-Salem joins pilot for license plate reading cameras

The Winston-Salem Police Department will get 25 license plate readers as part of a pilot program. The cameras will be installed sometime this year. KERI BROWN/WFDD

The Winston-Salem Police Department will get a new system this year, which it says will improve crime prevention and response time. Several license plate reading cameras will be installed throughout the city's wards.

The pilot program is a partnership with Axon and Flock Safety. They will provide the license plate readers free of charge to the police department during the year-long trial. Axon currently provides the Winston-Salem Police Department body cameras and other equipment.

Flock has installed these same cameras in Greensboro and in other North Carolina communities. The system will allow law enforcement agencies with the same technology to work together when an alert is issued like a missing person, stolen vehicles, or a shooting suspect.

The license plate reader captures the details of a vehicle when it passes by. That includes the plate number, color, and model.

“It just provides data, and so when that vehicle goes through an LPR, we will get that alert, so an officer doesn't have to be there. An officer didn't have to remember that that's the vehicle. This is an extra set of eyes for law enforcement so that we can keep the community safer," says Winston Salem Assistant Police Chief William Penn, Jr.

License plate reading cameras have come under scrutiny from groups like the ACLU, which has issued recommendations on how to protect the privacy of citizens.

Penn says after 30 days, the information captured by the cameras is purged from the system unless it's involved in crime or missing person cases.

The exact location for the license plate readers is still being decided, but he says crime data will help determine where they go.

The city already has a gunshot detection system known as Shot Spotter in some locations, and some of the cameras will be placed near those sites.

Penn says they will also likely be installed at major thoroughfares that come in and out of Winston-Salem.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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