GLAVID was the brainchild of a former Alexandria, VA, police officer who took the idea of fixed license plate readers found at toll booths and parking garages and made it mobile. GLAVID works by reading plates and checking them against a database in real time. GLAVID only provides officers with information about a vehicle and its driver when a “hit” occurs; that is when a match to the license plate is discovered in the police database. Originally conceived of as a means of identifying stolen vehicles, any number of police databases can be added to GLAVID so that the technology can also identify vehicles whose owners have outstanding warrants or who have not paid child support. The GLAVID system requires a computer stored in a secure location to house the details of the databases. GLAVID provides its own infrared light source so that it can work in any environment from bright sunlight to rain to dark. One limitation of GLAVID is that if there is any damage to the license plate or if there is a trailer hitch or bike rack attached, the technology may not be able to read the plate. The article cautions that while extremely useful, GLAVID is merely a machine and can only provide officers with enough information to warrant further investigation.