Automated license plate recognition system for use in law enforcement vehicles

The present invention is directed to a law enforcement vehicle having a camera mounted to a portion of the vehicle . Camera is configured to identify a license plate on a vehicle that is viewed, and provides an output signal indicative of the identified license plate to a processor carried on the vehicle . Processor is configured to receive the signal from camera , and compares the received signal with a list of stolen vehicle license plates contained in a database . The processor also accesses a storage device containing database of stolen vehicle license plates. The processor is further configured to provide an output signal to an output device . Output device is configured to provide an output that is detectable by the law enforcement officer, indicating to the law enforcement officer that there is a match. In another embodiment the system is configured to detect a license plate while the law enforcement vehicle is in motion.