A routine drive through Westfield, New Jersey, turned into the kind of traffic stop that makes every gun owner pay attention. Police say a license plate recognition camera flagged a vehicle connected to a Jersey City shooting, and that alert set the whole chain in motion. Details were first shared in the source post summarizing reporting from NJ Advance Media.
According to police, the driver was a 24-year-old woman working food delivery. When officers stopped the car, they allegedly found a loaded handgun on the driver’s side floor and a spent shell casing on the front passenger side floor—plus more shell casings visible in the vehicle.
License plate readers did what they’re built to do
Westfield police said the stop started with an alert from a license plate recognition camera. The system indicated a wanted vehicle had entered the township and was traveling west on East Broad Street at around 6 p.m. on Sept. 15.
This is the part that’s worth thinking about if you spend time driving between towns for work, hunting leases, fishing spots, or family. These readers don’t need an officer sitting in the median eyeballing plates. The camera does the scanning, and when a plate hits on something in the system, it can turn a normal evening commute into a stop in a hurry.
The stop happened fast, and the evidence was reportedly in plain view
Police said they pulled the driver over at the intersection of Carol Road and Lynn Lane. During the stop, officers allegedly located a loaded handgun on the driver’s side floor…