Vehicle thieves will need to keep looking over their shoulders for Cpl. Rick Roxby's police cruiser now that he has an extra set of electronic eyes.
Those ''eyes'' actually are three license plate readers mounted to Wheeling Police Department's Cruiser 51. Over the last two weeks, Roxby logged thousands of vehicles on local highways, streets and parking lots.
Roxby said the device has not yet alerted him to any stolen vehicles or plates, but he noted the reader's three infrared cameras have yet to fail in reading the intended image.
The computer is able to show a clear picture of any plate despite weather conditions and darkness. Roxby showed one image so dark there was merely an outline of the vehicle, but he has the option to isolate the plate and see it as if the image was taken on a bright summer day. Another picture was slightly obscured by snowfall, but the software worked just the same.
Two cameras are pointing forward to catch plates both on the left and right of the cruiser. A third is mounted at the rear, angled to the left. Roxby said the third camera picks up vehicles traveling in the opposite direction.
Though the possibilities for the plate reader are wide, Roxby only has the ability to be alerted to stolen vehicles or plates for now. Since the reader only logs the number and not the origin of the plate, he said he has had alerts when numbers matched registrations from other states. All were false alarms.
He also will be able to look up any plate he passed through the National Crime Information Center database to find where any plate was logged on a digital map and recall the digital image.
''There's so much we're going to be able to do with all this later on,'' he said.
In future weeks, Roxby said he could have the ability to track down wanted or missing people, to find drivers with suspended or revoked licenses and to seek those with outstanding parking tickets through the system.
''All I've got to do is run through the neighborhood'' and let the readers do the work, he added, noting he previously would drive his beat and try to spot ''out of place vehicles'' that seemed to be worth checking.
In November, Wheeling City Council voted to use $21,375 from excess 2007 Homeland Security grant funds to purchase the readers.