Myrtle Beach police: We need license plate readers to cover 42 lanes of traffic

Myrtle Beach police say they need stationary license plate readers to record the plates of cars entering and exiting the city at eight major gateways to help them battle crime, and the city says it has the money to cover most of the $462,000 bill to have them in place by Memorial Day.

Police say they need the extra eyes at a time when the department is struggling to fill vacancies.

City Manager John Pedersen told Myrtle Beach City Council at a workshop Tuesday the police department needs 42 readers to cover 42 lanes of traffic entering or exiting the city at eight major gateways. The cameras cost $11,000 each and the project was estimated to cost $462,000. No action on the project was taken at Tuesday’s meeting.

Myrtle Beach police Capt. Kevin Heins said the latest quote from the software company for just the equipment and minus an onsite survey could be as low as $426,936, but the price could go up. Poles may be needed to get cameras above certain roadways, he said.

Mike Shelton, the city’s chief financial officer, told the council it could use accommodation tax money earmarked to support public safety activities during Memorial Day to pay for the project.

Heins said officials have identified the eight main entryways and exits to the city as U.S. 501, Harrelson Boulevard, U.S. 17 Bypass, U.S. 17 Business South, Robert Grissom Parkway, the bypass split coming in restaurant row at Carolina Opry, Bellamy interchange at the back gate intersection of U.S. 17 Bypass and Farrow Parkway/S.C. 707 and Coventry Boulevard.

Perched above the city’s main gateways, the fixed license plate readers would snap a photo of every passing car, recording the tag, date, time and GPS location of all vehicles entering or exiting the city. Images may also capture vehicle occupants. The software would alert dispatch officers to any wanted vehicles associated with criminal cases from expired tags and missing persons to stolen cars and murder suspects.

Police say the technology has already proven effective in Myrtle Beach where a mobile reader is being used on a squad car, but its success is limited to that one squad car’s location.

“For law enforcement safety and the safety of the public, it’s very important,” Heins said of the stationary license plate readers. “You’ll know who’s coming into the city vehicle-wise or again leaving the city.”

The alerts, he said, will help officers know which way to go to find the suspects.

Heins said the annual maintenance cost of the cameras should be about 16 percent of the total project cost, coming in around $68,310 (for the lowest quote).

Heins said several other cities in the state use stationary license plate readers including Charleston County, Chesnee, Darlington, Mount Pleasant, Pickens and York.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach police: We need license plate readers to cover 42 lanes of traffic."