The most up to date equipment is being used by the police authorities in Milton Keynes to keep residents safe from crime. Automatic Number Plate Recognition Technology (ANPR) has been used to scan over 8.9 million number plates this year.
The figure above is significantly higher than the previous year when just 1.7 million number plates were caught on camera. Thames Valley Police has spent around £1.94 million over the past five years on this plate recognition technology and it is expected to increase even further to £2.6 million by March 2010.
The police have been using ANPR to combat serious and organised crime in the Thames Valley region and also to detect any disqualified and uninsured drivers. This crime prevention strategy has been successful so far, with 53 arrests, 26 recovered stolen motor vehicles and reclaimed property of around £250,000.
A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police explained what happens to the information captured and who has access to it:
“The data which is collected is held within the guidelines set out by ACPO and NPIA, the details of which can be found on the respective websites.
“Within TVP we have specialist training for all users who have access to the data which is held on a secure database, although all of the users are vetted to officer level before having access they are also required to sign a document stating that they are aware of and agree to abide by the Human Rights act, Data Protection Act and internal instructions in relation to why they require to search the database and how they deal with the information. This is also audited regularly and any misuse is treated the same as any other police system, very seriously, with a good chance of criminal charges being brought.”
