by Wesley Harris
Sixty years ago, Ruston Police had a system to help locate criminals shortly after committing a crime.
The system, rather quaint by today’s standards, involved making four phone calls right after a crime where a vehicle description was available. The dispatcher would call a citizen who lived on U.S. 80 east of Ruston, one who lived on U.S. 80 west of town, one north on U.S. 167, and one south on U.S. 167. The citizens would watch for the fleeing car and phone in if it was spotted.
A flawed system, certainly, since the bad guy could leave town before the calls could be made, or he could take a less obvious route. Or one or more of the designated citizens may not be home to answer the phone.
No one remains from the police department of those days to tell us how effective it was. But at least there was an effort to use the technology of the day—a landline telephone—to make a difference in crimefighting.
Technology has advanced since then. Automatic license plate readers use specialized cameras and software to capture license plate numbers from passing vehicles. Each reading generally includes a photograph, the plate number, and the date, time, and location.
Ruston Police Chief Eric Watson said police can compare those readings against lists of stolen vehicles, wanted vehicles, or license plates associated with investigations.
Unlike conventional surveillance cameras, LPR systems make vehicle information searchable. Investigators can determine whether a particular vehicle passed a camera and when.
The cameras do not necessarily identify the driver or establish that the vehicle’s owner committed a crime. A plate reading is an investigative lead that must be evaluated with other evidence.
Across the United States, LPRs are used to locate stolen automobiles, investigate violent crimes, find missing persons, and identify vehicles associated with criminal activity.
A common term for LPRs is Flock cameras but that’s just one brand of LPR. Flock received some criticism for sharing information from the cameras with business entities but that issue has been resolved. And RPD does not use Flock cameras but a LPR system manufactured by Motorola.
Last week, Virgil Mack, Jr. was convicted of murder for a convenience store parking lot shooting in 2025. Both store cameras and LPRs played a significant role in capturing Mack and ensuring his conviction.
Watson said surveillance cameras at the store recorded the suspect and the license plate of his car. RPD entered the information in it automatic plate recognition system and discovered the vehicle had just passed a camera headed west on I-20.
Police to the west were notified and Mack’s car was spotted on I-20 and after a high-speed chase into Texas, he was captured.
“Ninety minutes after the shooting, we had the suspect in custody,” Waston said.
Now Mack faces life in prison plus a trial in Utah for another murder committed before the Ruston case.
Watson said he knows LPRs have faced criticism from members of the public who believe the cameras are an invasion of privacy. But the courts at all levels have been virtually unanimous that no expectation of privacy exists out in public within the cameras’ field of view.
The chief pointed out that those who complain about privacy intrusions invariably carry a cell phone that tracks them much better than a LPR system ever could.
Both Watson and Deputy Chief Ben Thomas are confident the policies RPD has in place protects the information the cameras record.
Thomas closely monitors the records of use of the LPR system. Reports show him when an officer accesses the system, what case the inquiry pertains to, and the reason of the inquiry. Audit procedures include purging data every 60 days that is not being used in a criminal investigation.
“You can’t just look up a license plate number just out of curiosity or to see what your neighbor is doing,” Watson said. Officers must have training to access the system.
Ruston has eight LPR locations with a total of 24 cameras. Most are mounted on utility poles.
“We’re not trying to hide them,” Watson said.
He said Ruston’s location on major north-south and east-west highways allows people who commit crimes in the city to “get out of here fast.” That’s where the LPRs come in handy, Watson said.
Many crimes have been solved by Ruston’s LPRs as well as apprehension of wanted criminals and stolen vehicles that were coming into Ruston. LPRs played a critical role in building a case against suspects who were committing numerous vehicle burglaries around Ruston.
“LPRs solidified those cases,” along with other technologies, Watson said.
Watson said the LPRs allow city officers to be more effective in protecting Ruston. A big improvement on the phone system of 60 years ago.
“Anything we can do to work smarter, not harder benefits the Ruston Police Department and the public,” he said. “When you look at the big picture, investing in LPRs is an investment in keeping crime out of our town.”
