HOLMES BEACH, Fla. -- Holmes Beach will soon have license plate recognition cameras.
- License plate recognition cameras coming to Holmes Beach
- Police Department secured $100K toward cameras
- Cameras to be installed in September
The Police Department secured almost $100,000 as part of their annual budget toward the cameras.
The city commission approved the first round of budget hearings unanimously.
Holmes Beach Chief William Tokajer has been trying to get these cameras for years -- warning criminals if you come onto the island, they will find you.
"It will be monitored by a camera that reads the license plate and sends alerts to the police officers in their cars, and dispatch if somebody comes on the island. If somebody comes on the island in a stolen vehicle, if they're a wanted person, things like that," Tokajer said.
Longboat Key police say the same technology has solved dozens of cases for them over the last five years.
"Say you have a theft or a burglary or a crime. We know essentially when the crime occurred. We can look for vehicles coming and going during that time frame," Chief Pete Cumming said.
The cameras helped catch the suspected Zota resort murderer, Darryl Hanna, last year.
They could have been helpful in catching the burglar on Ana Maria Island two weeks ago, Tokajer said.
"We could have gone right to it, it would have given us a tag number. Which we could then run the tag and find out who the owner of the car was. It gives us leads," he said.
The cameras on Holmes Beach are on track to be installed by September.