35 NJ law enforcement agencies sharing $10 million for license plate recognition

🚗 Gov. Murphy promised $10 million in funding in April 2022

🚗 Newark is getting the largest city-level grant

🚗 License plate readers can help cops track stolen vehicles

At least one law enforcement agency in every New Jersey county, along with the State Police, is getting a share of $10 million to assist in a statewide effort to reduce automobile thefts.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced on Friday that 34 local and county agencies will receive grant funding — from American Rescue Plan money — to acquire or expand on license plate recognition technology.

The local grants range from $23,400 to $595,000 (NJSP is getting $3 million), meant for systems that utilize high-speed automated camera networks to record images of plates on the road and store them in a database that's accessible to law enforcement.

"We know that car thefts on their own are bad enough, but they are also used to commit other, violent crimes," Platkin said. "By equipping law enforcement with sophisticated Automated License Plate Reader technology, we are sending a clear message of deterrence against committing auto thefts."

There was a competitive grant process conducted in order to determine which communities received funds for this initiative.

Grant recipients:

• Brigantine (Atlantic County): $31,842
• Galloway (Atlantic): $60,325
• Bergen County Sheriff's Office: $400,368
• Wallington (Bergen): $86,400
• Burlington County Prosecutor's Office: $200,000
• Willingboro (Burlington): $144,000
• Camden County Police Department: $220,087
• Cape May County Prosecutor's Office: $389,527
• Cumberland County: $402,039
• Bloomfield (Essex): $226,065
• Newark (Essex): $595,000
• Nutley (Essex): $91,666
• West Orange (Essex): $63,513
• Glassboro (Gloucester): $23,400
• Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office: $349,856
• Paulsboro (Gloucester): $87,541
• Union City (Hudson): $222,000
• West New York (Hudson): $125,380
• Hunterdon County: $184,200
• Mercer County Prosecutor's Office: $396,000
• East Brunswick (Middlesex): $88,777
• Monmouth County Sheriff's Office: $325,920
• Chatham (Morris): $69,194
• Long Hill (Morris): $72,000
• Morris County Prosecutor's Office: $372,000
• Dover (Morris): $48,000
• Ocean County: $346,758
• City of Passaic (Passaic): $148,253
• Salem County Prosecutor's Office: $352,000
• Somerset County Prosecutor's Office: $102,858
• Sparta (Sussex): $68,800
• Union County Police Department: $250,500
• Greenwich (Warren): $131,190
• New Jersey State Police: ($3,014,329)

Gov. Phil Murphy announced in April 2022 that he would invest $10 million in APR funding for this technology.

More than 14,000 auto thefts were reported in New Jersey in 2022.

According to the Attorney General's Office, the number of vehicles stolen statewide declined by 16% from September 2022 through March 2023.

Dino Flammia is a reporter for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach him at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com

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