GRAFTON, Wis.— A village in Wisconsin is one of the first few to have a new camera system in place in hopes of reducing crime.

A new set of cameras in the Grafton community are helping to solve crimes across many counties in Wisconsin. As cars come into the Grafton community, the Flock cameras keep an eye out for any car wanted in a possible crime.

“We have them at every major point of ingress and egress within the village because we want to be able to capture the data within the village so we know who is here,” Grafton police chief Jeff Caponera said.

Caponera is the driving force behind the installation of Flock cameras throughout the village.

“When I was hired, one of the main concerns within the village was the retail crime, and they wanted to find a way to be able to solve the crime within the village specially affecting our retailers,” Caponera said.

With an average of 35 - 40,000 cars coming and going each day in Grafton, the eight cameras around the village will read license plates and check them through a database. Back at the station, detectives like Justin Gehm can pinpoint where these cars are or have been.

“We have received several notifications for the Flock system, mostly for stone vehicles. That has really come in handy — I have located vehicles based solely off of Flock alerts,” Grafton Police Department detective Justin Gehm said.

Due to Grafton’s location right off 43, a highway connecting Chicago through Wisconsin, these cameras also help surrounding counties like Milwaukee and Washington stop wanted cars that might be passing through on the highways.

“Our goal is to be able to keep them out. The more people that know we have these systems and know they are going to get caught, that is just more of a benefit to us,” Caponera said.

In just about a month, the Grafton Police Department said they have brought in two stolen cars because of the Flock system. Without the system, they said, those cars would likely still be on the street.