Automatic License Plate Readers

I don't know anything about ALPR, always having relied on something called a "clipboard with notes" in the past, but I noticed something odd on this particular SE Ohio SO cruiser that I've never noticed before: the driver's side camera is pointed backwards.  It actually makes a lot of sense when you run primarily on 2-lane roads - even though Ohio is a 2-plate state, it isn't uncommon to see cars missing a front plate, legally or not.  Missing a rear plate is an automatic CLUE, and I assume that the system alerts if it doesn't recognize a plate being present.

It may not be too obvious, but LE cars in these parts take a whipping, and this one was no exception.  The county will remain nameless (and it isn't Athens), but the Police Interceptor plate is missing from the trunk lid, which means it either got ripped off, probably by delinquent nefarious teenage hoodlums, or the car is an ex-taxi, or it was rear-ended and the bodyshop guys decided to shave a couple bucks, the camera mounting and wiring looked a little iffy and one of the rear strobe heads looked like it was gone.  And personally, I'd rather not number a car at all, if my only option was to use mailbox number stickers.  But that's just me.  Times are tight all over.