This technology is already being used to monitor the movements of “rave vehicles” (any large vehicle which has been seen at an unlicensed rave and may carry sound equipment) in the Thames Valley area (although at the moment the cops are only stopping these vehicles if other traffic violations are suspected)
Caught on camera
Police forces across the UK are turning to scanning technology that reads number plates and identifies stolen cars in an effort to tackle terrorism and fight crime. Justin Hunt reports
Justin Hunt
Thursday January 13, 2005
Guardian
After a series of highly successful crime prevention pilots, the Home Office has agreed to invest £15 million in the national roll-out of a hi-tech vehicle scanning system to help prevent terrorists travelling freely across the country.
The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology uses cameras to instantly scan vehicle number plates and matches them against information stored on police databases to identify stolen vehicles or individuals involved in crime. Twenty-three police forces have been involved in the pilots, which started towards the end of last year. Participating forces include the City of London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and North Wales.
The impact of the technology trials on local crime levels has surprised the officers involved. More than 13,000 arrests and £8m of stolen goods and drugs were seized as a result of using the ANPR systems. The £15m Home Office cash boost is now set to help expand the hi-tech system to other police forces. The additional resources have also been officially earmarked to fund the creation of a national data centre to exchange ANPR data from across the UK to support work to counter terrorism and organised crime.
Despite the Home Office’s recent commitments to ANPR, the technology is not new. “There are a lot of live systems that have been there since the 90s. The police are buying into this in a much bigger way because they are seeing the ability to affect crime rates not just in traffic scenarios,” explains David Scotton, technology director of enforcement for Civica Systems, which is developing the software that is PC-driven. “ANPR systems are being seen by senior officers as a general tool to identify criminal activities.”
Advances in the technology, such as the ability to use better quality infrared cameras in poorly lit conditions, are helping to drive the rapid take-up. The systems are typically able to monitor up to 3,000 number plates per hour on vehicles travelling up to 100mph. Details of suspect vehicles can be quickly checked against a variety of databases including the Police National Computer and local intelligence databases.
The forces that helped to pilot the ANPR systems tended to use a combination of mobile and static cameras. If it is a mobile operation, they would normally have a fleet of cars and motorcycle riders on standby to follow up any suspicious vehicles detected through the system.
During one ANPR pilot, police intercepted a Renault Laguna on the suspicion that it was being used in the supply of controlled drugs. The two male occupants were searched but initially nothing was found. When officers detained the men for a strip search, one of the men started to vomit, bringing up 15 wraps of heroin. Both men were arrested.
In its pilot, North Yorkshire police seized £320,000 worth of property and drugs using the state-of-the-art scanning device. “What’s really impressive is that it can rapidly match intelligence to what is happening on the street,” explains Detective Inspector Ian Wills, who headed North Yorkshire’s ANPR trial. “We can use other agency databases from a variety of sources. This technology can literally match that intelligence and can alert you when a suspected vehicle is in the vicinity. It is easy to share intelligence between police forces, which is a real bonus.”
While police officers are relishing the prospect of using the new technology on a wider scale, the ability of these systems to track individual vehicles and match sensitive data is bound to trigger concern among civil liberty groups.
“It can be perceived as a bit Big Brother-ish,” admits Detective Inspector Wills. “But if your car is taxed and insured and not being used for criminal purposes, you have everything to gain from this technology. We only use it to target the people we are interested in.”
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
