The town of Amherst will be using an $18,945 grant from the executive office of public safety and security to purchase a device to read license plates. The device will help police to identify unregistered vehicles and find drivers whose license plates are revoked for drunken driving and other offenses.

The device that the Amherst Police Department will be purchasing is an Automated License Plate Reader, a tool that will aid police in locating wanted cars and people.

This device can recognize 1,000 license plates per hour, according to a Daily Hampshire Gazette story about the grant. Technology for license plate readers has improved in the last 20 years and the price has dropped making them a more popular option, the Gazette story stated.

“Because of the way the device works, it could have been used to combat the rash of vehicle and house break-ins last year,” police captain Jennifer Gundersen told the Gazette. “This would include possibly identifying patterns among vehicles in the vicinity of the break-ins by creating a specialized database.”

Ellen Santagati, a sophomore at UMass, is in favor of the license plate reader.

“I think it is a good idea. It will help make Amherst safer,” she said. “There are many things we could do to make the community safer but this is just a small step. It shouldn’t be a big deal if people don’t have anything to hide from.”

Another student, senior Jessica Arthur, disagreed.

“I think it’s a form of profiling so it is not a good idea,” said Arthur. “Identifying patterns among vehicles during certain instances would create biases in [which] the police choose to search first.

“The police do all they can to reduce crime and protect the people in Amherst, so I do not think there any many other avenues to pursue,” she added. “Sometimes I think police may even be too harsh because they already have preconceived notions about college students.”

The device will be purchased and installed in one police car by July, Gundersen told the Gazette.

Haleigh Finch can be reached at [email protected].