GREECE, N.Y. – Greece Police are using new cameras that read license plates to help nab suspected car thieves. The plate reader cameras got a hit that led officers to a gas station along West Ridge Road Sunday night. Police say that’s where they found Jason Field, Nichole Stephan and Joshua Buzard inside a stolen Kia. Buzard tried to run but was quickly taken into custody.

The town of Greece started installing the cameras back in October and now have them up at more than 50 intersections across the town.  While police don’t want to say exactly which intersections, if you look close enough, you’ll see them.

“These are all locations that we did data analysis on, where does typically the crime happen in the town?  Where do motor vehicle accidents happen?  Where are most of our speeding violations or our traffic violations,” explains Captain Michael Perkowski. 

The cameras in Greece cost about a $1 million and were paid for with a state technology grant.

When the cameras get a hit, investigators say the information is verified by officers before they act on it. “If you’re an investigator looking for a violent criminal, that gives you a last known location of where they were, and then of course there’s other investigative work that needs to be done. Maybe they stopped at a convenience store around there and then we’ll go the convenience store and see if we can pull video from there, these are not live feed cameras,” Perkowski says.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office will soon be installing more than 150 license plate reader cameras at dozens of intersections county-wide.  Despite some concerns from residents about privacy issue, the Monroe County Legislature approved the installation of the cameras at a meeting earlier this month. The cost of installing the cameras will be covered by a similar technology grant from NYS.

Investigators say the cameras make it harder for criminals. “Vehicles are a tool for the criminal element I mean, whether they’re storing guns in there or drugs in there or using it as a getaway car, it’s a wealth of information for us to be honest,” Perkowski says.  

And they’re not only used to help in criminal cases. In Greece, they helped to locate a missing man with dementia who had driven away in his car.

Here’s a list of where MCSO is planing to place the cameras: 

• The area of state Routes 19 and 31
• Route 19 in Hamlin
• Routes 19 and 104 in Clarkson
• Route 19 and West Avenue, north of Brockport
• Brockport-Spencerport Road near Hubbell Road
• Route 36, south of Churchville Village
• Roosevelt Highway, just west of Hilton Village
• Route 259, just south of Hilton Village
• Route 259 and Brockport-Spencerport Road
• Route 259, outside of the MCSO zone C substation
• Routes 33 and 259
• Manitou Road and Wilder Road
• Manitou Road and Latta Road
• West Ridge Road, between Manitou Road and Route 259
• Manitou Road and Ridgeway Avenue
• The area near Chili Avenue and Paul Road
• Scottsville Road near Route 253
• Buffalo Road, near the Home Depot in Gates
• Chili Avenue near Westside Drive
• Lyell Avenue in Gates
• Buffalo Road near I-390
• Chili Avenue and Buell Road
• Scottsville Road, south of I-390
• Ballantyne Road and Scottsville Road
• East River Road and Jefferson Avenue
• The area of West Henrietta Road and Brighton Henrietta Town Line Road
• Jefferson Road near East Henrietta Road
• Routes 251 and 65
• Empire Boulevard and Winton Road, near I-590
• Linden Avenue near I-490 entrance
• Monroe Avenue near I-590
• Monroe Avenue and Clover Street
• Empire Boulevard and Ridge Road
• Ridge Road near Shoecraft Road
• Route 441 and Panorama Trail
• Route 31F
• Fairport Nine Mile Point Road near Route 441
• Penfield Road near Harris Road
• Fairport Road near the Erie Canal
• Pittsford Palmyra Road near I-490
• Pittsford Victor Road near I-490
• Route 31 and Pittsford Palmyra Road, near the county line