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Tucson police today plan a full-scale roll-out of their newest crime-fighting tool: cameras that automatically read license plates as officers patrol city streets.

The Automated License Plate Recognition system will be used in an effort to cut auto thefts and increase recovery rates of stolen vehicles, police say.

The devices can read hundreds of plates per hour and will alert officers when they come across a stolen one.

Currently, officers must enter license plates into the computer by hand.

The system, which consists of small cameras mounted on patrol cars, compares license-plate numbers with a state database of wanted and stolen vehicles, according to the Tucson Police Department.

Manual entries can also be made, such as license-plate numbers for vehicles used by homicide suspects or a plate associated with an Amber Alert.

Officers can use the system to search for previously read plates and to retrieve a GPS time-stamped photo, which can be useful in cases of kidnappings, serial arson or homeland security.

However, these are not surveillance cameras or permanent databases. All information not related to ongoing criminal investigations will be purged after 60 days.

The department would not say how many of the systems — which cost about $25,000 each — it has, although all were paid for by the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

The NICB is a not-for-profit organization that solicits funds from about 1,000 property/casualty insurance companies. State Farm, one of the companies affiliated with the NICB, made a generous contribution, TPD said.

Over the last month, The Tucson Police Department has deployed the system for a total of 120 hours, which resulted in the recovery of 38 vehicles, 10 stolen license plates and three arrests, said Sgt. Larry Thompson of the auto-theft unit. The recovered vehicles were worth a combined $252,000.

"The more stolen vehicles we recover the fewer claims being paid out, and the faster we recover them the less damage there will be," Thompson said.

"We get the vehicle back for (the owners), and that is their means of transportation. That is more important than what the insurance company pays out."