Police Scanners Help Collect Auto Judgments


Auto judgments

In Ohio, a judgment arising from an uninsured auto subrogation case causes permanent suspension of driving and registration privileges for defendants. Many of these people continue to drive their automobiles, even though the license plates have been suspended by the State.  In the past, Law Enforcement would not know, simply by looking at a license plate, that it was suspended. Today, however, due to new police technology, the police can spot a car with suspended plates in seconds.

A driver’s license suspension is even more important than it already was due to a new tool being used by law enforcement referred to as automatic number plate recognition, or ANPR.

I got pulled over…” are words we hear more and more over the past year or so.  Why? Because more and more police cruisers are equipped with Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Scanning Systems, also referred to as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems. ANPR is a mass surveillance system that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registrations from license plates. It then compares the plate information to various databases. In Ohio, one of these databases is from the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Police now receive an immediate alert from ALPR that a vehicle is being operated illegally. Usually, our suspended defendant is driving.

ANPR is a mass surveillance system that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registrations from license plates. It then compares the plate information to various databases. Police now receive an immediate alert from ALPR that a vehicle is being operated illegally.

With the arrest, the possibility of jail time, the impounding of their auto, and a Court hearing coming up, defendants – to put it mildly –  have a  great incentive to satisfy the judgment so they can get their license and registration privileges reinstated before their Court date.

Subrogation lawyers

Thanks to ALPR, auto subrogation judgments have become harder for the debtors to ignore, and they have made auto subrogation judgments more collectible than ever before. To discuss ALPR or ANPR, contact one of our subrogation lawyers.