A Flock Safety license plate reader camera near Casa Grande, Arizona, in October 2025. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
Every parent knows the feeling, the moment your child walks out the door, you trust they will come home safely.
Whether it’s heading to school, practice, or a friend’s house, families across South Carolina expect that our communities are doing everything possible to protect children.
But when a child is endangered, abducted, or targeted by criminals, hope alone isn’t enough.
Law enforcement must have the tools necessary to act quickly.
That’s why technologies like automated license plate readers deserve strong support in South Carolina.
At Less Than 3, our mission is centered on protecting children and strengthening families.
Our organization was founded to raise awareness about the threats facing young people, from sextortion and online exploitation to mental health challenges and other dangers impacting teens today.
We work with families, schools, churches, and communities across our state to educate parents and advocate for solutions that keep children safe.
One thing we hear from parents over and over again is simple: when a child is in danger, they want law enforcement to have every possible resource to respond quickly. License plate readers technology is one of those resources.
The systems allow officers to identify vehicles connected to crimes by capturing license plate numbers and comparing them against law enforcement databases.
If a vehicle tied to a kidnapping, trafficking investigation, or violent crime passes a camera, officers can be alerted in real time.
In cases involving children, that speed can make the difference between recovery and tragedy.
Too often, crimes against children involve vehicles. A suspect can leave a neighborhood and reach a highway within minutes, crossing county lines before officers have even had time to fully mobilize.
Without the ability to track vehicles efficiently, investigators are often left chasing limited information while the suspect disappears.
In many cases, a vehicle description may be the only lead investigators have.
A witness might remember the color of a car, a partial license plate, or a vehicle seen leaving the scene.
Plate reader systems allow officers to take those small details and turn them into actionable intelligence, identifying vehicles connected to crimes, preserving critical investigative evidence, and helping law enforcement move quickly to locate suspects.
For families facing the unimaginable, a missing child or a child victimized by crime, that kind of speed and capability matters.
These tools can also help disrupt larger criminal networks that prey on children. Human trafficking, exploitation, and organized criminal activity often rely on vehicles to move victims across communities and state lines.
The plate-reader technology allows investigators to connect those movements and build cases that hold predators accountable.
For organizations like Less Than 3, protecting children requires a comprehensive approach. We work to raise awareness about online threats like sextortion and cyber exploitation while also
advocating for stronger protections that keep children safe in the real world.
Criminals today use technology to target young people. It only makes sense that law enforcement should be able to use responsible technology to stop them.
Of course, any new technology should come with clear safeguards and transparency. But across the country, license plate readers have already proven to be an effective tool for locating suspects, recovering stolen vehicles, and helping solve serious crimes.
At the end of the day, this isn’t a debate about technology. It’s about protecting families.
When a child goes missing or a young person is in danger, parents don’t care about politics or bureaucratic debates.
They want law enforcement to move fast. They want officers to have the tools they need to find the people responsible and bring children home safely.
South Carolina families deserve nothing less.
Because when a child’s life may be on the line, every second matters.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
