Bridgeport and Waterbury, Connecticut have both seized their first automobiles with the new Bootfinder car confiscation system. Waterbury's program, operating since March, has already made $200,000 in revenue.

Bridgeport grabbed its first victim, a gold Dodge Intrepid, on June 2. Its owner, Calvin Carter, owed $200 in property taxes. The city took the car, even though Carter was a mere 100 feet away from City Hall at the time, ready to pay his tax.

Bootfinder is a hand-held camera system that scans license plates, looks up the identity of the owner and checks to see if the city thinks he owes money.

"The warrants enable us to seize any of their property, including their homes, but at this point we are just using the warrants to seize their cars," City Tax Collector Robert Tetreault told the Connecticut Post.