North Yorkshire Police’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) team have again proved why the technology is one of the most effective tools available to the police service.
In the last financial year, the force’s ANPR team have seized £1,350,160 worth of stolen property, vehicles and drugs, summonsed 1,588 people to court and have made 88 arrests.
•1,025 fixed penalty notices have been issued by the team, mainly for motoring offences.
•523 vehicles have been seized for having no insurance, or because the driver using the did not have a valid licence.
•88 people were arrested for offences including theft, drugs, burglary, motoring offences and people wanted on warrants.
•Over 700 vehicles or people have been searched.
Sergeant Ian Butler who heads North Yorkshire Police’s ANPR team, said:
“ANPR continues to be an invaluable tool in the fight against crime, proving its worth time and time again. Denying criminals the use of our roads is a major priority for us and the technology enables us to do this very efficiently and effectively.
“Not only do the cameras help to detect motoring offences which blight the lives of law-abiding people, they also provide a rich source of intelligence, analysis and post-incident investigation, as well as providing valuable assistance to officers during ongoing incidents.
“ANPR is used locally and nationally, across force and regional borders, allowing effective, collaborative responses to disrupt the criminal fraternity.”
Sergeant Butler added: “In the current financial climate, it is vital that we make the best use of our available resources. The roads are vital to criminals and by working harder and smarter, we will deny them the use of our road network.
“It must be stressed that law-abiding motorists have nothing to fear. The system is intelligence based and flags up vehicles linked to criminality, allowing police to focus on those engaged in unlawful activity.”
ANPR is a key feature of Operation Vanguard, the force’s current campaign to keep travelling criminals out of North Yorkshire.
ANPR facts
•ANPR means, automatic number plate recognition
•ANPR cameras work by scanning vehicle registration numbers and checking them against information stored in databases to identify vehicles connected to criminality.
•North Yorkshire has 24 permanent cameras at seven fixed sites.
•The force has also invested in five moveable cameras which can be temporarily installed at crime hot-spots where there is a specific problem.
•In-car cameras have been fitted to 16 of the force’s patrol cars.
•Two portable cameras purchased last year can also be deployed anywhere in the county at a moment’s notice.
•This is in addition to the force’s ANPR van which is equipped with the latest ANPR technology and can be deployed anywhere in North Yorkshire or the City of York.