Having license plate readers does not classify as "not general apathy". Every sizable city has one and they are as good as the database of stolens and how many times they are actually active and deployed, ie. police cruising the roads less traveled.
Plus if they found a stolen in the street, they just recover it. Generally speaking they don't wait for someone to get into the car and arrest them, and in most cases police is not allowed to put a tracker on the stolen EVEN with the owner's consent.
Also many thieves swap plates now. A plate reader is just a tool, just having one doesn't make the police department pro-active by itself.
Plus if they found a stolen in the street, they just recover it. Generally speaking they don't wait for someone to get into the car and arrest them, and in most cases police is not allowed to put a tracker on the stolen EVEN with the owner's consent.
Also many thieves swap plates now. A plate reader is just a tool, just having one doesn't make the police department pro-active by itself.