A company building a nationwide network of license plate readers that helps law enforcement officials track suspect vehicles across state lines will expand its partnership with a national center combatting human trafficking, as states across the nation embrace new technology to crack down on crime.
The Atlanta-based firm Flock Safety will announce a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the company told Pluribus News, in an effort to identify vehicles in which children may be held.
The company’s license plate recognition software, already operated by law enforcement agencies in 49 states, uses machine learning to compare license plates to state and national databases including the FBI’s National Crime Information Center — and, under the new agreement with NCMEC, the agency’s Amber Alert database — to match suspect vehicles and alert nearby officers.
“That Amber Alert database is really the most comprehensive database of kidnaped and exploited children,” said Holly Beilin, a Flock Safety spokeswoman.