It sounds like science fiction...but North Charleston's new Plate Scan technology is now a fact, and very effective.

Four different infared cameras, with a 360 degree radius, recording and checking tags and instantly running them through a national database. It is saving police officers like Victor Buskirk lots of time.

"I can check tags manually by calling it in-there's no real right to privacy with tags... all the camera does is speed it up", Buskirk said.

North Charleston has used the plate scan for 2 weeks, and so far has recorded more than 290,000 different tags.

"In that 2 week period we've recovered a stolen tag and we've recovered 2 stolen vehicles", Buskirk said.

Then during our interview a tag came back as stolen on Rivers Avenue, so the police officer went after the driver and other officers responded to the scene.

When the camera shot the tag on the car- the computer in Buskirk's car instantly issued an alert. The driver was then arrested for driving with a suspended license.

The plate scan database keeps track of every tag it records and can even make a map of locations for police to use to track sex offenders,criminal domestic violence offenders, and even those suspected of murder.

Each device costs around 25 thousand dollars, and North Charleston City Councilman is credited with bringing the idea to the Police Dept., and then fighting to get the funding.