What the license plate cameras are actually searched for
Every time Hopatcong police search the stored license plate data, they record a reason. Across the 864 searches the Borough has documented, those reasons are overwhelmingly about vehicles and property. Motor vehicle theft or stolen vehicle accounts for 401 of the 864 searches (46.4 percent), and larceny or theft adds another 106 (12.3 percent). Together, those two reasons make up more than 58 percent of every search on record.
Beyond those top two, the recorded reasons spread across a long tail of smaller categories, from welfare checks to missing or endangered persons. The exact count and share for all 21 categories is in the table below.
Source: Borough of Hopatcong OPRA response, July 2026.
Searches by stated reason
Each bar is one recorded reason, ranked from most to least common. The two largest categories are drawn in orange. Exact counts and the share of all 864 searches for every category are in the table below.
Full breakdown, all 21 categories
| Search reason | Searches | Share of 864 |
|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle Theft/Stolen | 401 | 46.4% |
| Larceny/Theft Offenses | 106 | 12.3% |
| Hit and Run/Car Accident | 80 | 9.3% |
| Obstructing the Police (Fleeing/Eluding) | 42 | 4.9% |
| Destruction/Damage/Vandalism of Property | 38 | 4.4% |
| Assault/Battery Offenses (Domestic) | 33 | 3.8% |
| Wanted Person (Arrest Warrant/Fugitive) | 33 | 3.8% |
| Welfare Check | 30 | 3.5% |
| Disorderly Conduct/Disturbance | 16 | 1.9% |
| Drugs/Narcotics | 12 | 1.4% |
| Burglary/Breaking & Entering | 12 | 1.4% |
| Counterfeiting/Forgery | 9 | 1.0% |
| Traffic Infraction | 8 | 0.9% |
| Criminal Motor Vehicle Offense incl. Road Rage/Reckless | 8 | 0.9% |
| Stolen Property Offenses | 8 | 0.9% |
| Trespass | 7 | 0.8% |
| Illegal Dumping/Littering | 7 | 0.8% |
| Threats/Harassment | 6 | 0.7% |
| Missing/Endangered Person/Runaway | 6 | 0.7% |
| Robbery | 1 | 0.1% |
| Financial Crime (Embezzlement/Fraud) | 1 | 0.1% |
| Total | 864 | 100% |
Each share is that category's count divided by the 864 total, rounded to one decimal place, so the rounded shares may not add to exactly 100 percent. Source: Borough of Hopatcong OPRA response, July 2026.
Reading this in context
These reasons are recorded by the officers running each search, and they describe why a search was run, not what it found. On their own they do not tell you whether a search solved a case. What they do show is the day-to-day purpose of the system: most searches are about stolen vehicles and theft. For how this fits the wider record on cost, access, and oversight, see the Learn page and the underlying documents.