New equipment allows cops to verify stolen cars in seconds

MANILA, Philippines - With new equipment and a direct link to a database of vehicle listings, highway patrol police now have more teeth in detecting and recovering stolen vehicles. Radio dzBB's Sam Nielsen reported that the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group (HPG) was given new laptops, communications equipment and a direct access to a vehicles database of the Land Transportation Office (LTO), which is expected to facilitate the verification of suspicious license plates. PNP-HPG head Chief Superintendent Perfecto Palad said once the database is accessed, highway policemen will now be able to verify a certain license plate and determine whether a vehicle was stolen. At least eight vehicles from the HPG's Metro Manila unit will be fitted with the first batch of the devices, Palad said. - GMANews.TV