Atlanta, GA, Oct. 22, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Cobb County Police Department saw over 60% reduction in crime in six months with license plate readers from Flock Safety, a crime-solving technology company that provides the most advanced and affordable license plate readers for neighborhoods, small businesses, and law enforcement.
Cobb County PD launched a pilot project in March 2019, placing 13 Flock Safety license plate readers around Zone 2, Beat 215 near Six Flags Over Georgia. Over the past five years, they’ve averaged 147 Entering Autos (larceny from vehicles) during the six months from March to August in a given year. Last year, in 2018 Beat 215 saw 138 entering autos during the same time period. In 2019, they saw only 50 entering autos - a 64% reduction.
| 5 Yr Avg | 2018 | 2019 | 2018-2019 % Change | |
| Robbery | 29 | 23 | 11 | - 52% |
| Residential Burglary | 59 | 34 | 27 | - 21% |
| Non-Res Burglary | 23 | 27 | 10 | - 63% |
| Entering Auto | 147 | 138 | 50 | - 64% |
| Theft | 135 | 160 | 150 | - 6% |
| Vehicle Theft | 55 | 52 | 45 | - 13% |
“Historically, 215 beat has consistently had disproportionately high numbers of property and violent crime to include stolen cars, thefts from autos, armed robberies, and burglaries of businesses and homes,” said Cobb County Deputy Chief Stuart VanHoozer. “Thanks to Flock Safety and our hard-working creative police officers, our officers and detectives have been able to react in real time to crimes in progress with actionable evidence obtained quickly and effortlessly by the Flock Safety LPR camera systems.”
Cobb County PD said that this has led to the immediate arrests of significant numbers of habitual offenders, the recovery of stolen cars, stolen items, weapons, and evidence of other criminal activity in the region; it has lowered crime dramatically in the area, and increased the safety of people and property. Most importantly, it is helping officers instill a sense of safety with the families that live and work in this community.
“We’re proud to work with Cobb County PD to dramatically increase public safety,” said Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety. “Our mission is to eliminate property crime and forward-thinking police departments across the country are taking advantage of this new technology.”
According to the FBI, 87% of nonviolent crimes in our country remain unsolved and this is often due to a lack of evidence that police say starts with the license plate. Flock Safety created the first Vehicle FingerprintTM technology, leveraging machine learning to identify a vehicle’s make, model, color, distinguishing marks, and of course, the license plate. Today, Flock Safety cameras provide evidence for police to solve up to five crimes every hour in 300 cities across the country. In greater-Atlanta area, over 30% of Police Departments are actively using Flock’s cameras.
Flock Safety built the first license plate reading camera specifically for neighborhoods. To ensure privacy, the footage expires after 30 days and operators of the cameras own their own footage.
To see how safe your community is visit solvecrime.com.
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About Flock Safety: Flock Safety is a crime-solving company that provides the most advanced and affordable security for neighborhoods, small businesses, and law enforcement. With its 24 hour wireless cameras designed to capture license plates, Flock Safety gathers information that can be used by local police to investigate crime and is using that technology to solve up to five crimes per hour, nationwide. Flock Safety is a venture-backed startup based in Atlanta, Georgia. Visit www.flocksafety.com for more information.
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