MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Police in Miami Beach are now able to make several arrests in a matter of days thanks to license plate readers.
Miami Beach is no doubt a popular city. With so much traffic and so many visitors, police are finding creative ways to keep everyone safe.
"We can easily and readily intercept certain people who are probably up to no good in our city," Miami Beach police Chief Dan Oates said.
One way they're doing that is with the license plate readers -- some stationary, some mobile, according to Oates.
Over the weekend, scanning plates led Miami Beach police to find a Nissan Armada traveling across the MacArthur Causeway.
Police said the vehicle had been flagged and tied to multiple shootings in the city of Miami.
Police apprehended two men inside and found large guns before calling Miami police detectives.
"That's a car wanted in connection with two shootings with two rifles in it that came into our city and was intercepted by us," Oates said. "There's no sensible need for a rifle in the ordinary course of enjoying a good time in Miami Beach."
Police also intercepted a stolen vehicle.
Since January, the department has made 49 felony arrests using license plate readers, 79 misdemeanors and has issued close to 1,500 criminal traffic citations and close to 3,000 traffic citations.
The plate readers are controversial, but the police chief said it's made a huge difference combating crime.
"We don't share that data with insurance companies. We don't sell that information to anyone," Oates said. "The only reason that we collect that data is for law enforcement purposes only, and we retain it only for one year and then we purge it."