SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (WFSB) – For the second time in less than a week, Southington police have stopped a stolen car and found evidence of other crimes.

That is thanks to some technology that is keeping a watchful eye over the town.

Robert Cota says his sister’s friend had her car stolen while on her way to pick up precious cargo.

“She was kind of leaving her car on so it would stay warm,” Cota said. “She was going to get her child from daycare, so it’s probably pretty alarming.”

He says it happened last winter in Southington before the town’s police department picked up some precious cargo of its own.

“We’re getting a lot of information. Probably, I would say more than we anticipated,” said Lt. Keith Egan, Southington Police.

The new FLOCK system is a series of cameras mounted on poles. They see every car that turns, stops, and passes through Southington.

Lt. Keith Egan says the cameras scan license plates, constantly comparing them against lists of reported stolen cars.

“Our dispatch center receives a hit. That’s not enough probable cause to make a motor vehicle stop. What we do is verify from that point,” Egan says.

Last week, officers stopped 2 Waterbury men in a stolen car by Townline Plaza.

Video showed the suspects ramming into cruisers before they were arrested.

What led up to that confrontation was a picture taken by the new FLOCK cameras clearly showing the license plate, make, and model of the stolen car.

The pictures are stored for 30 days.

The system even tells officers what direction that car is driving in.

Just last night, a FLOCK camera alert helped police arrest Graydon Montgomery of East Hartford.

Police say he was found with a stolen car on West Street, along with a collection of other car keys and burglary tools.

Lt. Egan would not confirm how many cameras the town has, but he expects that mystery number to grow.

“We’ll continue to add cameras, as many as we can,” Lt. Egan said. “If you come into town, and you’re driving a stolen car, we know you’re here, and we’re going to be looking for you.”

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