CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- The Charlottesville Police Department wants to begin using a license plate recognition system to help prevent and solve crimes.

It’s called the FLOCK License Plate Recognition system.

According to a release, there will be a series of community meetings concerning this technology and its use, but specific dates, times and locations for these have not been announced yet.

CPD says this system is a very useful tool in helping to find missing, endangered and wanted people.

It works by alerting CPD in the event a stolen vehicle or one that has been flagged in connection with an Amber Alert or other event enters the city.

Police say the sole purpose of this system is to help keep the community safe.

CPD says all data collected by the system will be kept confidential and the data will not be constantly monitored.

It involves still-frame images that will be captured for law enforcement purposes, and most of this data will not be reviewed and will be automatically deleted in 30 days.

The release says the images will not be used for facial recognition, personal identification or traffic enforcement.

CPD says the system will be audited monthly.

The meetings will be announced as they are scheduled.