More big brother? Horry County moves closer to license plate reader system
Your car could soon be tracked a bit more when driving around Horry County.
The Horry County Council voted to shift money towards a license plate reader program for county police. A pool of $100,000 that was designated for one program — funded through another avenue — will now be dedicated to the license plate system.
Horry County Police Chief Joe Hill first discussed the license plate reader program during a January Public Safety Committee meeting, then the county experienced the coronavirus pandemic, putting many plans on hold.
Several cities, including a few in South Carolina, have benefited from their license plate reader systems, Hill said.
“Myrtle Beach has had great success the last few years with this project,” Hill said.
The system would install license plate readers on major county routes, such as S.C. 31 and S.C. 22, Hill said. The system reads a license plate and if there is a match — such as for a wanted vehicle or an expired plate — the information is then sent to patrol officers who can try and stop the car.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division houses the hardware needed for the system, which helps reduce the cost for Horry County.
While some have expressed “big brother” concerns with license plate readers, Hill said they would not collect data such as a car owner’s name or address. Police will use the system to identify vehicles connected to crimes and other public safety endeavors.
The City of Myrtle Beach has license plate readers at the entry and exit points to city limits. In 2018, the readers scanned 23.5 million license plates and alerted on 77,000 vehicles.
When there is an alert, Myrtle Beach Cpl. Thomas Vest said officers still have to check the alert against another database to make sure it is active.
“There is a second step we have to do,” Vest said.
For city police, the readers help indicate when wanted people come into the area, Vest said. It also helps police track cars after an incident. For example, if there is a burglary, they can use the city real-time surveillance cameras and readers to track the direction of a suspect’s vehicle.
The readers also help with missing person cases, Vest said, as officers can track a vehicle to find a person’s last known location.
