SF mayor touts tech’s potential to reduce crime after license plate readers installed

San Francisco has installed the first 100 cameras equipped with automated license plate readers as part of a plan to put 400 of the devices in the city. The other 300 automated license plate readers, called ALPRs, are expected to be installed by the end of July. 

Mayor London Breed credited the devices with arrests in at least four instances since they became operational, but also touted declining crime numbers that were trending downward even before the cameras’ installation beginning in late March, according to a statement from the mayor’s office Wednesday.