License plate scanners like the one that caught Terry Miles used by Pueblo PD

If you drive past a Pueblo police officer, odds are your license plate is being scanned for information.

“The system is instantaneous. As soon as it reads a license plate, it runs it through the database, through the computer,” said Detective Gerald LeRay.

LeRay said a handful of Pueblo Police Department patrol cars have the license plate scanner technology.

After the plate is read, an alert will pop up on the officer’s patrol car computer.

“It could be people that aren’t in compliance, people that might have warrants, sex offenders, things like that,” LeRay said.

The incidents Pueblo police use the cameras most for are stolen cars.

LeRay said unfortunately, the system wouldn’t have helped in the Amber Alert from earlier this week involving Terry Miles, because it only registers Colorado plates. But they do work with other local law enforcement agencies to stay aware.

“This is a tool that (is used) statewide. All the stolen cars here in Colorado go into this database, so if a steal is out of Denver, it’s going to pop up here in Pueblo and we’re going to have that information readily available to us,” LeRay said.

He said this technology is expensive, but they hope to get more of these cameras for the department soon.

The Colorado Springs Police Department also uses this technology.