I have (on more than a few occasions in fact). On one occasion I had noted the offender's car plate number and from that the police tracked the person down to t

I have (on more than a few occasions in fact). On one occasion I had noted the offender's car plate number and from that the police tracked the person down to their house (all of this within the span of just a couple of hours, mind you). What I'm questioning is that it seems far more reliable to follow the documentation trail electronically from something like a car plate/registration/drivers license back to a domicile than it is for a random cop to randomly stumble upon a person of interest and in such a way that only face recognition can help. If there's a reason to believe that a person needs to be brought in (e.g. an active homicide investigation and an uncooperative driver in a vehicle matching a profile), they would have to bring the person in as a suspect anyways and that would certainly motivate an innocent person to provide identification.