Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is an established technology that allows vehicles observed by video cameras to have their vehicle registration mark (VRM) ‘read’ using pattern recognition software. When combined with other resources and data, ANPR can be an extremely powerful tool in: • road tolling – for example, the London Congestion Charging Scheme uses ANPRenabled cameras to identify vehicles passing into/out of the congestion charge zone. This information is subsequently used to levy tolls and to penalise non-payers • vehicle tax evasion – for example, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) uses ANPR as part of a system to ensure that vehicles on the road have current Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) • congestion warning – for example, Trafficmaster uses a national network of ANPR cameras to measure speed between cameras and, from this, identifies areas of the road network that are congested. This is then used to provide information to drivers. points for a number of years, for example at ports, tunnels and in the ‘ring of steel’ around the City of London as part of counter terrorism measures. With the improvements in ANPR technologies (which has led to increased accuracy of the reading, and the ability to process, a greater volume of images) and an overall reduction in cost, police have begun to look to ANPR as a proactive tool to help address volume crime. This report presents the findings of PA’s evaluation of the introduction of ANPR-enabled intercept teams. It contains three further chapters as follows: • chapter 2 explains the operation of the ANPR-enabled intercept teams • chapter 3 summarises the evaluation findings • chapter 4 sets out the conclusions and makes a number of recommendations. (Author/publisher)
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