License Plate Reader Planned For Route 5 To Help St. Mary’s Deputies Track Stolen Vehicles, Solve Crimes

ST. MARY’S COUNTY, Md. — A vehicle connected to a robbery, stolen car or missing-person case could soon be detected within seconds as it enters or leaves St. Mary’s County under a new public safety project approved by county commissioners Tuesday.

The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County voted July 28 to approve the Sheriff’s Office’s application for $100,000 through the fiscal 2027 Edward J. Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. The funding would support the installation of a fixed automated license plate reader, or ALPR, near Route 5 and Mohawk Drive in Charlotte Hall.

The busy corridor is considered one of the county’s primary entry and exit points. The system would operate around the clock, automatically comparing passing license plates with law enforcement hot lists for stolen vehicles, vehicles associated with wanted felony suspects, and AMBER and Silver Alerts.

Sheriff’s Office Chief Fiscal Administrative Officer Lottie Bell and Capt. Stephen Simonds of the Patrol Division presented the proposal to commissioners.

“With this technology at one of the county’s primary entry and exit points, vehicles would be scanned against law enforcement hot lists, including stolen vehicle registrations, felony-wanted registrations, and AMBER and Silver Alerts,” Bell said.

Real-Time Assistance During Investigations

The fixed reader could give deputies immediate information when a vehicle is believed to be involved in a crime.

Simonds offered the example of a bank robbery in which investigators obtain a vehicle description or license plate number. Deputies could search information collected at fixed and mobile reader locations and potentially determine where the vehicle was detected.

“You may have that vehicle location within seconds, as opposed to hours,” Simonds said.

That faster response could help deputies locate suspects before they leave the county, identify the direction in which they traveled or warn neighboring jurisdictions that a wanted vehicle may be approaching.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, the project is intended to improve real-time vehicle intelligence, deter criminal travel through the county and assist investigations involving violent crime, stolen vehicles and critically missing people.

The system could also automatically alert law enforcement when it detects a vehicle included in an AMBER Alert for a missing child or a Silver Alert for a missing older adult.

Expanding Technology Deputies Already Use

Although the fixed location would be new, automated license plate reader technology is not new to the Sheriff’s Office.

Some patrol vehicles already carry mobile readers mounted near their trunks. When an equipped patrol vehicle passes a license plate listed on a law enforcement hot list, the system automatically alerts the deputy.

“We’re trying to expand from just being mobile to fixed locations,” Simonds said.

The Route 5 and Mohawk Drive corridor would be the first gateway location included in the project. Simonds said the Sheriff’s Office’s longer-term vision is to place fixed readers along the county’s major entry and exit routes.

Other possible corridors identified during the discussion included the Gov. Thomas Johnson Memorial Bridge on Route 4, Route 234 near Budds Creek and Route 6 near the Charles County line. Those locations are not included in the current grant application.

Maryland Law Controls Access To Data

Simonds also addressed privacy concerns that have arisen nationally over some license plate reader systems.

He said Maryland has some of the nation’s strongest legal safeguards governing ALPR information. Data collected by the proposed system would belong to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office and would not be placed into a vendor-controlled pool available to agencies across the country.

Searches must have a legitimate law enforcement purpose, such as a criminal or traffic investigation. Queries are time- and date-stamped, subject to audits and included in annual reporting to the Maryland General Assembly.

“You can’t just run a blanket search,” Simonds said. “It has to be a legitimate law enforcement purpose.”

The information may also be shared with the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, the state’s designated fusion center and clearinghouse for authorized law enforcement requests. Other agencies would not receive unrestricted access to the Sheriff’s Office’s database.

Unauthorized access can carry criminal penalties under Maryland law, Simonds said.

The reader will capture vehicle information only. It will not use facial recognition or identify the people inside a vehicle.

“This technology does not do facial recognition,” Simonds said. “It does not identify people in the vehicle. This is exclusive to the vehicle itself.”

Project Could Cost Up To $210,000

The Sheriff’s Office is requesting $100,000 in federal grant funding for the project, with the money first applied toward engineering and permitting expenses. The grant would also support equipment and installation.

Although the grant does not require a county match, the Sheriff’s Office requested authorization to use approximately $110,000 in local asset forfeiture funds to cover the remaining project costs. That would bring the total available project funding to approximately $210,000.

The grant period would run from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027.

Because the federal funding was not included in the county’s approved fiscal 2027 budget, a budget amendment would be presented if the grant is awarded.

Commissioners unanimously approved the application and authorized the commissioner president, sheriff and county staff to execute the related documents and submit them electronically.

Watch the full video below at 1:16:13

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