New technology is credited with helping police make a quick arrest this week after it was learned that a Washington suspect wanted for child abuse was believed to be in Grover Beach.
“Using our license plate reading system, we were able to detect interest in this license plate and received a report from our system that this vehicle was in our city yesterday afternoon,” said Commander Bryan Millard of the Grover Beach Police Department.
Commander Millard said officers were dispatched to 7th Street and Grand Avenue on Wednesday afternoon for high-risk enforcement.
Nearby construction workers, including Kyle Swieringa, saw it happen.
“We were across the street. When we looked here, I saw I was in the line of fire,” Swieringa said. “They pulled the suspect out and took him back to their car.”
According to police, license plate reading cameras installed in 2023 led to the suspect’s arrest just one day after Ellensburg police were notified.
“We could still be out there searching,” Millard said.
He says the technology has already helped in several cases.
“We were able to pick up ten stolen vehicles and make arrests in our community related to those vehicles,” Millard said.
Local resident Marissa Zambo says she is glad it is being used.
“I mean, if we didn’t have this system, they wouldn’t be able to catch the bad guy,” Zambo said.
Grover Beach Police Department plans to further improve its operations, possibly incorporating AI and other technologies.
“We are planning what we call a real-time crime information center, where we will integrate all kinds of technologies into a single information space that will become a central point for identifying trends,” says Millard.
There are 17 cameras in various locations throughout the city, each costing about $2,500. Millard says about half of the cameras were recently funded by a federal technology grant.
