PITTSBURG — A license plate reader installed in response to freeway shootings in East Contra Costa nabbed a burglar who’d made off with a collection of rifles and pistols, police said.

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A Pittsburg police news release say officers arrested a suspect — whose name was not released — after a brief foot chase early Friday morning. They recovered a half-dozen stolen rifles, several pistols, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and other stolen property, police said.

It all started around 3:30 a.m. when a Highway 4 license plate reader pinged on the license plate of a car that had been reported stolen. Police say they found the car near the Contra Loma Boulevard onramp and that the suspect attempted to flee from officers, but was taken in with help from a police dog.

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Cameras and license plate readers were installed in Pittsburg and other parts of Highway 4 and Interstate 80 in Contra Costa, in response to an increase in shootings on Bay Area freeways. Other cities, like Brentwood and Danville, have their own license plate reader systems as well, which record plate numbers and store them in a massive database that allows law enforcement to track the movements of cars.