diff --git a/src/openalpr/licenseplatecandidate.cpp b/src/openalpr/licenseplatecandidate.cpp
index 6666d93..6335516 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/licenseplatecandidate.cpp
+++ b/src/openalpr/licenseplatecandidate.cpp
@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ void LicensePlateCandidate::recognize()
     PlateLines plateLines(config);
     //Mat boogedy = charRegion.getPlateMask();
 
-    plateLines.processImage(charRegion.getPlateMask(), 1.15);
-    plateLines.processImage(plate_bgr_cleaned, 0.9);
+    plateLines.processImage(charRegion.getPlateMask(), &charRegion, 1.10);
+    plateLines.processImage(plate_bgr_cleaned, &charRegion, 0.9);
 
     PlateCorners cornerFinder(plate_bgr, &plateLines, &charRegion, config);
     vector<Point> smallPlateCorners = cornerFinder.findPlateCorners();
diff --git a/src/openalpr/platelines.cpp b/src/openalpr/platelines.cpp
index b264481..e7f31e3 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/platelines.cpp
+++ b/src/openalpr/platelines.cpp
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ PlateLines::~PlateLines()
 {
 }
 
-void PlateLines::processImage(Mat inputImage, float sensitivity)
+void PlateLines::processImage(Mat inputImage, CharacterRegion* charRegion, float sensitivity)
 {
   if (this->debug)
     cout << "PlateLines findLines" << endl;
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ void PlateLines::processImage(Mat inputImage, float sensitivity)
   timespec startTime;
   getTime(&startTime);
 
+  
   Mat smoothed(inputImage.size(), inputImage.type());
   inputImage.copyTo(smoothed);
   int morph_elem  = 2;
@@ -48,11 +49,6 @@ void PlateLines::processImage(Mat inputImage, float sensitivity)
 
   morphologyEx( smoothed, smoothed, MORPH_CLOSE, element );
 
-  morph_size = 1;
-  element = getStructuringElement( morph_elem, Size( 2*morph_size + 1, 2*morph_size+1 ), Point( morph_size, morph_size ) );
-
-  //morphologyEx( thresholded, thresholded, MORPH_GRADIENT, element );
-
   morph_size = 1;
   element = getStructuringElement( morph_elem, Size( 2*morph_size + 1, 2*morph_size+1 ), Point( morph_size, morph_size ) );
   morphologyEx( smoothed, smoothed, MORPH_OPEN, element );
@@ -60,6 +56,15 @@ void PlateLines::processImage(Mat inputImage, float sensitivity)
   Mat edges(inputImage.size(), inputImage.type());
   Canny(smoothed, edges, 66, 133);
 
+  // Create a mask that is dilated based on the detected characters
+  Mat mask = charRegion->charAnalysis->getCharacterMask();
+  dilate(mask, mask, element);
+  bitwise_not(mask, mask);
+  
+  // AND canny edges with the character mask
+  bitwise_and(edges, mask, edges);
+  
+  
   vector<LineSegment> hlines = this->getLines(edges, sensitivity, false);
   vector<LineSegment> vlines = this->getLines(edges, sensitivity, true);
   for (int i = 0; i < hlines.size(); i++)
diff --git a/src/openalpr/platelines.h b/src/openalpr/platelines.h
index 49594a0..f95e65d 100644
--- a/src/openalpr/platelines.h
+++ b/src/openalpr/platelines.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 #include "utility.h"
 #include "binarize_wolf.h"
 #include "config.h"
+#include "characterregion.h"
 
 using namespace cv;
 using namespace std;
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ class PlateLines
     PlateLines(Config* config);
     virtual ~PlateLines();
 
-    void processImage(Mat img, float sensitivity=1.0);
+    void processImage(Mat img, CharacterRegion* charRegion, float sensitivity=1.0);
 
     vector<LineSegment> horizontalLines;
     vector<LineSegment> verticalLines;