Long Beach police: Man arrested for DWI had 26 license suspensions

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Police say a Far Rockaway man who was driving drunk in Long Beach on Monday had his license suspended 26 times and was charged with DWI in the city twice before.

The city’s “Ring of Steel,” a system of automated license plate readers, alerted police to Roy H. Gaines, Jr. for driving with a suspended registration, police said. When officers Peter Feiler and Raymond Kenahan pulled Gaines over, they discovered he was allegedly driving drunk and arrested him for DWI. He had 26 license suspensions in addition to three previous DWI charges, police said.

Gaines was arraigned in Long Beach City Court on Monday and was placed into the custody of the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department by Judge Corey Klein. He is due to appear in Nassau County Court on April 16.

Gaines was charged with two counts of felony DWI, first-, second- and third-degree unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, no interlock device, suspended registration and unlicensed operator.

While the automated license plate reader system was launched last year, the city has used the technology since 2006, which Police Commissioner Michael Tangney said has significantly improved public safety throughout the city.

“The system allows officers to be more efficient and effective,” Tangney said.

The cameras in the system scan plates and send real-time alerts to police officers. It can pick up on cars flagged as stolen, cars with suspended registrations, cars involved in criminal activity, cars that have active warrants or are linked to missing persons and cars that have unpaid fines and summonses.