80 License Plate Readers Coming to Gulf Shores
By Rick McCann
Blue RAM Media/Gulf Coast News
September 11, 2025
GULF SHORES, Ala. A tool long used by many law enforcement agencies has made its way to South Alabama.
For at least the past several years, police in Baldwin and Mobile Counties have been using camera technology to keep an eye on vehicles and people throughout the area.
Automatic License Plate Readers (APLRs) are highly used in large and small communities, becoming a force multipler sitting quietly, scanning vehicle tags and running them through multiple state and federal databases to determine if the vehicle is stolen, wanted for a crime, or if the owner themselves have outstanding arrest warrants, or are wanted in any crimes.
Now, the City of Gulf Shores is purchasing 80 new license plate readers that will be placed on high traffic roads, throughout the beachfront area and in areas where problems or high crime occur.
Gulf Shores Police Chief Dan Netemeyer said that the cameras do the work that would otherwise take many officers to do.
“It’ll log any vehicle that’s entered a particular way. A blue alert, an amber alert or a stolen vehicle or something like that and then, it also monitors for after-the-fact follow-up type investigations,” Chief Netemeyer stated.
Police departments in other Alabama cities have been using the technology and say that they have seen a reduction of certain crimes in some areas and the cameras help investigators solve crimes because of the video and data that they provide.
Orange Beach has been using Automatic License Plate Readers for a number of years and recently purchased additional cameras.
The cameras will cost a little more than $300,000, but taxpayers won’t be picking up the bill. Instead, the Gulf Shores Police Department will be using money from seized property to pay for it. The cameras should be in hand and going up before the end of the year.
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