Nassau County lawmakers green-lighted the installation of 20 new license plate-reading cameras in the town of Jericho — and officials hope they’ll help cops find car thieves and other criminals.
The eyes-in-the-sky will be posted on street poles looming 10 to 15 feet above the ground, and they’ll let police search for car registrations and other criminal records in the North Shore hamlet, Newsday reported.
Funded by a $250,000 state grant, the cameras will pop up at 10 intersections on Robbins Lane, North Service Road, Birchwood Park Drive, Hazelwood Drive and Jericho Turnpike, the outlet said.
“These are useful law enforcement tools,” Assemblyman Charles Lavine, a Glen Cove Democrat, told Newsday earlier this month, adding the devices would deter crime and give residents a sense that the cops were “watching out for them.”
Of course, the cameras won’t end the need for traditional police work.
“They are not panaceas,” Lavine said. “We have to be realistic.”
