27-05-2025
New technology helps Lincoln County deputies solve crimes, keep guns off the street
LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — New technology in Lincoln County is helping deputies solve crimes and get guns off the streets.
It's a tiny camera with big power.
'It's been extremely helpful as of lately,' said Det. Jake Weathers with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. 'It kind of goes back to you don't know what you did without them.'
They're called license plate readers. There are about two dozen of them placed in high-traffic areas across the county.
'They take two separate pictures — one of the back of the car and then a focus up on the license plate area of the car,' said Weathers. 'Then what that does is it stores it in a data bank and we can run it by make and model of the vehicle, color of the vehicle.'
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office has had them for about two months now, and they recently helped crack their first big case. It led to the swift arrest of two people accused of stealing multiple guns from a business.
Divine Rodziewicz, 23, and Dashawn Donaldson, 23, are both charged with ten felony counts of larceny of a firearm, and one felony count each of breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, and conspiracy.
Deputies tracked down the suspects and recovered five of the stolen firearms using photos taken by the cameras of the suspect vehicle.
'Getting those off the street was our number one priority when it came to this case,' said Weathers.
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