License Plate Recognition System Leads To Arrests In Newtown: Chief

NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP, PA — The township’s new license plate recognition system, installed earlier this year at four busy intersections in Newtown and Wrightstown townships, has so far led to the arrest of three wanted suspects.

Chief John Hearn updated the board of supervisors this week on the $151,000 system, which was purchased and installed this past spring through grant funding.

Since its installation, the Platelogiq advanced license plate recognition system has been capturing license plate images at three intersections in Newtown Township (Sycamore and Swamp, Newtown Bypass and Richboro Road and Newtown Bypass and Durham Road) and one in Wrightstown (Route 413 and 2nd Street Pike)

Cameras mounted on the mast arms of the traffic signals, are capturing the license plates of every vehicle passing through the intersections, flagging any that are in the NCIC, a national criminal justice database, according to Chief Hearn.

This past Saturday, Hearn said the system identified a Bensalem murder suspect traveling through the township and resulted in the man’s arrest at 600 Newtown-Yardley Road in front of the Newtown Cemetery. Abel Mendoza-Ramirez was taken into custody without incident after his vehicle was flagged as being involved in a felony.

Mendoza-Ramirez, 31, was charged with the murder of 40-year-old Jose Miguel Tenorio-Ruiz who was shot in the torso earlier that evening in the parking lot of the Bucks Meadows Apartments in Bensalem.

“We have had three successful arrests from that (system),” said Hearn. “One included a sheriff’s warrant for a wanted subject, a vehicle reported stolen by a suspect from Philadelphia, and on Saturday we had a homicide arrest that happened in Bensalem Township.

“The system is working to keep Newtown safe,” said Hearn.

The cameras capture images of passing vehicles, allowing police to see the license plates, as well as vehicle make, model and color.

"Wanted subjects, missing persons, stolen license tags, Megan's Law violations, terrorist watch lists. That's what the database searches out," said the chief. "When that data is tagged, when we have an alert for that particular vehicle, we stop that vehicle with due process and due cause."

The system cost the township $151,000 to install, a cost that was fully funded and reimbursed through a grant received by the police department.

According to Chief Hearn, license plate images are retained for 30 days. "If it doesn't hit, it disappears in 30 days. If I get a hit on your license plate as unregistered, it will stay in there for 60 days. If there's a criminal investigation on the license plate, we're going to keep it indefinitely until the case is closed."