Ocean City Police say current license plate readers have helped take wanted individuals off the streets.

OCEAN CITY, Md. – The Ocean City Police Department has announced it will install a new license plate reader after seeing success with its current readers.

“It’s a great crime fighting tool. It allows us to get wanted criminals off our streets as soon as they get into town, ” says Lindsay Richard, spokesperson for the Ocean City Police.

Richard says they’ve already used the plate reader to help solve crimes and take wanted individuals into custody, such as in August of 2015 when the system alerted police of a vehicle in the area stolen out of Accomack County. Officers were able to track down the driver and charge him with motor vehicle theft.

“It’s been a great response; we’ve been able to catch a lot of wanted individuals and get a lot of stolen cars back to their owners,” says Richard.

Ocean City currently has two permanent scanners at the town’s entrance. Through a grant and federal funding, the town is working to get a permanent replacement for a third one installed on Rt. 50.

The spokesperson told 47 ABC they are still in the planning phases of getting the new scanner.

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