The Palmview Police Department will soon have new technology to help track down stolen vehicles.

The city council approved the purchase of four license plate reader cameras. Palmview Police Chief Jose Trevino said the cameras use artificial intelligence to scan plates as vehicles pass through the city.

"These vehicles tend to traffic and commute through our city quite often when they are stolen from other cities," Trevino said.

The system alerts dispatch when it detects a plate linked to a stolen vehicle or other crime. 

"It's not only going to track stolen vehicles. It's also going to track plates associated with crimes, persons of interest, missing persons, kidnappings, anything we can track that's attached to a crime," Trevino said.

The cameras cost $42,000. Most of the cost will be covered by a grant, with the city paying about 20%.

The cameras will be installed in the coming months.