MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WTVF) — Mt. Juliet Police Department officials said some definite trends are developing with their license plate reader program.
That's after deploying several dozen throughout the city, with the goal to cut the number of vehicle burglaries.
Data from the police department shows out of 225 crimes the license plate readers stopped in Mt. Juliet during the last two and a half years, more than 80 percent have been stolen cars or tags.
And where they're coming from is just as eye-opening, police said.
MJPD said stolen cars or tags driven by suspects just from Nashville make up nearly half of all the crimes the license plate readers have stopped in their city.
"That type of crime not related to family violence, likely are not offenders from our community," said Capt. Tyler Chandler with the Mt. Juliet Police Department. "We have some offenders who live here and commit crime, but it's nowhere near the number we see from other cities around us."
As for the department's original goal of cutting car burglaries, they said those have dropped by nearly half since the city-wide rollout of the license plate readers.
