77 automatic licence plate scanners handed out to Sask. law enforcement

More law enforcement vehicles throughout Saskatchewan are now equipped with scanners that can process one licence plate per second.

Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) announced Tuesday that it has invested $2.3 million in the purchase and installation of 77 new automated licence plate readers.

The devices automatically scan plates and alert police if a nearby vehicle is unregistered, or associated with a driver who has been suspended.

The devices can be used to look out for a vehicle that has been reported stolen, or is connected to a crime or an Amber Alert.

Most of the new scanners have been allocated to highway traffic officers and conservation officers serving on the province's new protection and response team.

Eight of them will go to in traffic patrol vehicles in Regina, Prince Albert and Moose Jaw.

Minister Responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave said the scanners will target the province's rural areas.

"If the police want you for anything, it can pick that up," Hargrave said on Tuesday, adding thatthe data is wiped from the scanner at the end of the each day.

In total, SGI has funded 136 licence plate scanners in Saskatchewan, at $28,000 per unit. Hargrave said the ministry will continue to add more in the future.

Lindsey Leko, a conservation officer in Weyburn, said he came across six unregistered licence plates flagged by the device during his trip to Regina alone.

"It's going to make our roads safer," Lekosaid. "It will be interesting to see how it works for us during the hunting seasons and during the angling seasons but I don't anticipate any problems with it at all."

Leko said each usertrains with the device for about four hours before implementing it into their enforcement practices.