NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The six-month pilot program is complete, and on Tuesday night, the Metro Council will vote on permanently using fixed license plate readers (LPRs) throughout Davidson County.

It is a divisive topic. The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) reported the tool is highly useful for catching crime, but some residents are concerned about privacy.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Metro police have been highlighting statistics in several videos shared on their social media pages.

The department said stopping crime and finding missing people are the primary use and they do not use LPRs for general surveillance, vehicle repossession, or expired tag, drivers license or insurance enforcement. If a tag is read and ultimately not connected to a crime, the data is reportedly deleted after 10 days.

Metro police said the purpose is to locate stolen vehicles or license plates, investigate and prosecute violent crime offenses, catch vehicles involved in recklessness and find missing people.

They said during the half year pilot program, LPRs led to 112 arrests and 31 of them were juveniles. Plus, they said they recovered 87 stolen cars and 14 guns.

Some residents have argued LPRs target minority groups.

“Police are focused on stopping crime and so they are going to focus their efforts towards those areas where the crime is at the highest,” said Ken Gray, a criminal justice expert at the University of New Haven. “You put these types of tools where the crime is the highest, unfortunately, those areas are often connected to poverty.”

An independent group that gathers feedback for local governments, zencity, conducted an English and Spanish survey, given to 719 Nashville residents this August. Zencity’s chief strategy officer said the survey pool reflected Nashville’s demographics.

It found 88% of residents support license plate readers. Additionally, it said 68% of Nashville residents said they trust Metro police, while 11% reported they do not.

“A tool is just a tool. It can be used well, it can be used badly,” said Gray. “If the police are not trusted, then the public is not going to support the use of these types of tools.”

Tuesday night’s Metro Council meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Metropolitan courthouse.