The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office will soon be using six cameras that will capture all license plate numbers on both lanes of I-80. Chief Deputy Ben Houchin tells KLIN News citizens shouldn’t be concerned about their privacy being violated.
“I want people to understand that when a license plate goes by it’s looking at the license plate. We do not get information on the vehicle, the driver, any of that.” Houchin says the cameras will only capture a still image of every vehicle in the eastbound and westbound lanes.
“The everyday citizen who is driving up and down the interstate we don’t even want to have any information about them, but when something bad happens, like an Amber alert or if a very violent individual goes by I think the citizens would want us to know and be able to make the arrest off this information.
He says they currently have four cameras mounted to cruisers, but they are only useful if a deputy is working. He says having the fixed cameras will ensure that they are constantly being used. He says those cruiser cameras have helped catch several homicide suspects in the past four years, including one from Texas.
“Where a son had murdered his mother and put her in the trunk of the car. It showed that the vehicle had gone by our deputies,” Houchin says. They were able to radio ahead and the car was eventually stopped by NSP troopers near Grand Island.