Peterborough Police Outfitted Traffic SUV With Automated Licence Plate Recognition System

The Peterborough Police Service’s Traffic Management Unit just unveiled its newest crime prevention and proactive policing program: The Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) system.

Three cameras installed on traffic SUV's roof

HOW IT WORKS...

-> Using infrared technology, the ALPR system—consisting of three sophisticated cameras installed to the roof of a Traffic Unit SUV (see pictures)—scans licence plates at a rate of three plates per second.

-> The system looks for violations including but not limited to expired validation stickers, stolen licence plates and suspended and unlicensed drivers.

-> The ALPR works in conjunction with the new in-car tablets which also contributes to the officers’ efficiency.

Traffic Sergeant Jeff Chartier and Traffic Constable Cameron Kenny demonstrate the technology

Traffic Sergeant Jeff Chartier says that the camera system reads licence plates and compares the plates to a known list that is downloaded daily. This includes information regarding stolen plates, unattached plates, prohibited and suspended drivers.

The system also allows for officers to input licence plate information for various alerts, including AMBER alerts where time is of the essence.

Traffic Constable Cameron Kenny demonstrates the new technology

Police say the system is not replacing officer interaction with the public and that traffic officers are still very much required for interaction and action with the public. If a plate scans a suspended driver, the officer will still have to speak with the driver as it may be another person, other than the registered owner of the vehicle, driving that vehicle.

The ALPR system allows officers to multitask and conduct other traffic enforcement initiatives, such as speed enforcement, while the ALPR system is running in the background.

“The new system increases officer efficiency, officer safety and road safety,” Traffic Sergeant Chartier says. “This system is all about road safety, crime prevention, investigation and proactive policing.”

The Peterborough Police Service has the one traffic SUV (pictured) outfitted with the ALPR technology with the hope of expanding to additional vehicles in the future. The funding for the ALPR system was provided by the Ministry of Attorney General via a Civil Remedies for Illicit Activities grant.

—guest post by Lauren Gilchrist, Peterborough Police

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