SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - In about a month, the city of Springfield will have 83 Automatic License Plate Reader (LPR) cameras to help fight crime.

"It's another component of the investigative process, another layer of technology that we're using to help solve crime," Chief Ken Scarlette said in a police open house event Monday night.

The department studied major intersections and crime heat maps to determine where to put these license plate readers.

"They're motion-activated cameras. They're not surveillance cameras, they're not panning or zooming, we don't have live feeds coming from them," Deputy Chief Andrew Dodd explained.

The cameras work proactively, using artificial intelligence to alert officers if they spot a wanted vehicle or car associated with an Amber Alert.

"As the vehicle goes through, it's going to tag it and it's going to alert our officers so they can start responding to the area so they can try to locate or stop that vehicle," Dodd added.

But officers can also search the Flock database to find matches for a make and model of car that may have been used in a crime.

"This is what's true, not just here, this is true in every city around the country - it's just really, really hard to solve crime," Josh Thomas, the vice president of communications with Flock Safety, said.

Flock Safety hopes its technology can help improve Springfield's 15% clearance rate for property crimes and 50% clearance rate for violent crimes.

"Most people commit crimes with a car. People drive in, commit the crime, and drive out. So if we can focus on the vehicle and get the vehicle detail - not people - the vehicles, that gives investigators better information to go out and solve crimes," Thomas added.

Flock cameras will not be used to catch speeders or those with expired registration information. 

Data will be deleted after 30 days. When in use, it will be stored in a Criminal Justice Information Services compliant cloud server.

Scarlette is also planning monthly audits to ensure the technology is not misused by any officer.

"If by chance someone chooses to not abide by our policy, they will be dealt with accordingly," Scarlette emphasized.

Springfield police also hope to partner with neighboring cities who have installed LPRs to catch criminals who may have fled to nearby towns.

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