Combating Auto Theft in Arizona: A Randomized Experiment with License Plate Recognition Technology

Combating Auto Theft in Arizona: A Randomized Experiment with License Plate Recognition Technology
Source
National Institute of Justice and Police Executive Research Forum
Bruce Taylor, Christopher Koper, and Daniel Woods
Combating_Auto_Theft_cover

This report presents results from a randomized field experiment with LPRs conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum and the Mesa, Arizona Police Department (MPD) to target the problem of auto theft. The experiment sought to determine whether and to what extent LPR use improves the ability of police to recover stolen cars, apprehend auto thieves, and deter auto theft. We did this by examining the operations of a specialized 4-car MPD auto theft unit that worked in auto theft hot spots over a period of time both with and without LPR devices.