Yakima law enforcement hopes to go high-tech in its war against auto thieves.

Automatic license-plate readers may be coming to a patrol car near you if the Yakima Police Department and Yakima County Sheriff's Office can secure funds for them. The devices can scan parked and moving vehicles across four lanes of traffic and alert the officer if they come across stolen vehicles in their database, according to the Web site of a company that makes them.

The devices are already being used by several law enforcement agencies across the nation and in at least one school district, which uses them to identify the license plates of vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses.

Yakima police Lt. Gary Belles said the department intends to purchase four scanners at an estimated cost of up to $115,000.

"It's kind of cool when you think about it," Belles said. "It enables us to come at the problem from a whole other angle."

Both agencies are applying for grants from the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs this month. The grants would be awarded in July if approved.

Although the applications are being submitted separately, they are both geared toward helping with auto theft prevention. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, Yakima County has the ninth-highest auto theft rate in the nation.

The NICB lists 2,155 vehicles stolen in Yakima in 2006 and 1,898 in 2007, for a rate of 934 thefts per 100,000 residents in 2006, and 814 last year.

In Yakima, Belles said the grant money would pay the overtime needed to place officers in unmarked vehicles that would be used to follow suspects in stolen cars once they are identified by patrol cars with
license-plate readers. Unmarked cars can follow the suspects until they park the stolen vehicles, hopefully cutting down on dangerous pursuits, he said.

"This could drive down eluding cases as well as auto thefts," Belles said. "I'd like to apply for the grant again next year and keep applying until we get readers in all the (patrol) cars."

The sheriff's office, meanwhile, wants to buy three readers for deputies.

Sheriff Ken Irwin said he would also use the money to hire a crime analyst who, he hopes, would provide much-needed auto theft data collection and help the county coordinate with other jurisdictions.

"What do we do about the stolen car in Grandview that ends up in an orchard in West Valley? We have 14 cities and towns and about 12 different law enforcement agencies," Irwin said. "And we also need to share data with neighboring counties like Benton, Klickitat and Kittitas.

"We need that analyst position to do that."

Belles said YPD is applying for a grant of about $180,000 and that the rest of the money would pay for overtime, more "stop sticks" or road spikes, and bait cars.

"We're trying to get auto thieves in our cross hairs," he said. "Our auto theft rate has gone down in recent years, but it's still too high. "

* Rod Antone can be reached at 577-7628 or rantone@email.com.