CENTRAL - The crime rate in Central is relatively low compared to surrounding cities, and the police chief hopes to keep it that way.

"I want to install cameras at every entrance to the city," Police Chief Roger Corcoran said.

Tuesday evening, the city council passed a resolution providing nine license plate reading cameras to Central Police Department.

"If you have committed a crime, wanted for a crime, or any type of investigation and you've been added into the database it automatically alerts my officers and the EBRSO that you're in the area."

Though the sheriff's office has already installed a couple of its cameras around city limits, Chief Cocoran and Mayor David Barrow want to expand their view.

"There are also several neighborhoods in Central that also have this same brand of license plate reader installed at the entrance to their neighborhoods," Barrow said.

The cameras will work by scanning license plates and running them through a national database. They will not be used for traffic violations.

"They only read license plates they aren't for speeding or any traffic enforcement purposes at all."

They also work to help track down criminals not in the database, if a person who witnessed a crime can describe the vehicle they were in.

"If someone burglarizes in a subdivision and we get a specific license plate or description of a vehicle, that can be punched into the database and it can tell us which camera it went in front of and at what time," Corcoran said.

The cameras cost $2500 each.