WASHINGTON, D.C. Racine police could soon go high-tech with a little help from the federal government.

The United States Senate Thursday approved Sen. Herb Kohl's request to direct $850,000 toward crime prevention projects in southeastern Wisconsin including $100,000 to equip four Racine squad cars with automatic license plate recognition cameras.

The cameras will capture digital images of virtually every license plate within view of the squad car, either moving or stationary. The license plates are then instantly compared to a variety of databases.

These cameras will reduce the amount of time officers spend investigating crimes so that they can spend more time patrolling Racine streets and neighborhoods, Kohl said in a release.

The money was part of the 2010 Senate (Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies) appropriations bill.

Kohl, a Democrat, sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee and had identified these projects as priorities for funding.

In addition to benefiting the City of Racine, the Racine Police Department regularly participates in multi-jurisdictional law and traffic enforcement projects, so those jurisdictions will benefit from the use of this equipment as well.

The bill that included funding for these projects will next move to the House-Senate Conference Committee for consideration.