The tip of the iceberg

[Sour Puss]

The tip of the iceberg?.Big brother (not the Reality TV Show- Orwell?s version) is here to stay!
I thought ANPR was for weeding out untaxed ? uninsured cars.

Crime crackdown on Severn crossings By Jane Helmich 1:42pm Saturday 21st July 2007

MORE than 80,000 vehicles came under scrutiny as the crossed the Severn bridges in a massive crackdown on criminals.
Operation Utah involved more than 200 police officers from Gwent and three other forces together with 40 representatives from key enforcement agencies.
More than 60,000 vehicles going over the Second Severn Crossing and 20,000 travelling over the old Severn Bridge were scanned by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) units.
The technology alerts officers to vehicles, or their occupants, wanted in connection with various crimes ranging from disqualified driving to drug dealing, benefit fraud to rogue traders.
More than 150 vehicles were stopped and 19 people were arrested for offences including breach of bail, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of Class A drugs, being in possession of an offensive weapon and fraud.
Fourteen vehicles were seized for offences including having no insurance and dangerous driving.
And the Department of Work and Pensions are now investigating two people for benefit fraud while Revenue and Customs found vehicles using red diesel.
Superintendent Nigel Russell, Head of Uniform Operations for Gwent Police, said: "This is an excellent example of how technology and traditional policing work together to deal with an increasing problem.
"Criminals are like everyone else in that they need to use the road network to ply their trade.
By working with our neighbouring forces and partner agencies we will be able to show them that nowhere is safe."
ANPR systems instantly check up to 3,000 vehicles an hour against various databases of intelligence including information provided by police, Crimestoppers, the DVLA and other forces.


http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/display.var.1563149.0.0.php?utag=36755

[Uncle Mort]

What's interesting is that out of 80,000 vehicles only 150 or so were stopped. What has happened to the millions of untaxed and uninsured vehicles that are supposed to be on our roads?

Maybe someone has been exaggerating 

[Barman]

What's interesting is that out of 80,000 vehicles only 150 or so were stopped. What has happened to the millions of untaxed and uninsured vehicles that are supposed to be on our roads?

Maybe someone has been exaggerating 

APNR seems a brilliant solution to the crime problem but I can?t help thinking that its widespread usage will just make criminals ?clone? number plates of legal vehicles?

[D P Dance]

I can see nothing wrong with this, except that as Barman says, the criminal classes will soon find a way round it.  A friend of mine has he vehicle plate cloned and was pursued relentlessly by the traffic taliban for an alleged offence committed in Kent when he was in New Zealand at the time.

[Snoopy]

As with all systems this one is only as good as those who operate it and can only work with the information provided to it by those operatives.
I was accused of "driving away without paying" on the evidence of CCTV footage provided to the police by the service station. When I suggested to the questioning officers from North Wales force (sent to my home by West Midlands Police) that they might have the wrong person they triumphantly said "We have your Registration Number clearly shown on the CCTV footage" ~ "Do you deny that your Blue 5 series BMW Estate has the registration XXXXXXX?" I had to admit that they were right. My Blue BMW etc did indeed have that number plate. When I asked to see a copy of the CCTV footage as I had never been in the filling station or even the town from whence the allegations came they at first demurred, then said I would need to contact West Midlands Police as North Wales had only been supplied the information. To cut a long story short the CCTV footage clearly showed the registration plate as claimed ~ attached to a red Ford Mondeo. The CCTV footage also showed the driver of said vehicle filling the tank and driving off. He was obviously Asian and wearing typical Muslim clothing
The police had tracked me via the DVLA based purely on the reg Number ~ the DVLA had supplied details of the vehicle registered to me (colour, make etc) but no-one in the West Midlands Police had thought to put the two together and see if they matched. So the opening questions of "Do you own a Blue etc" had all been gleaned from the DVLA and not from the "Evidence"

[Barman]

As with all systems this one is only as good as those who operate it and can only work with the information provided to it by those operatives.
I was accused of "driving away without paying" on the evidence of CCTV footage provided to the police by the service station. When I suggested to the questioning officers from North Wales force (sent to my home by West Midlands Police) that they might have the wrong person they triumphantly said "We have your Registration Number clearly shown on the CCTV footage" ~ "Do you deny that your Blue 5 series BMW Estate has the registration XXXXXXX?" I had to admit that they were right. My Blue BMW etc did indeed have that number plate. When I asked to see a copy of the CCTV footage as I had never been in the filling station or even the town from whence the allegations came they at first demurred, then said I would need to contact West Midlands Police as North Wales had only been supplied the information. To cut a long story short the CCTV footage clearly showed the registration plate as claimed ~ attached to a red Ford Mondeo. The CCTV footage also showed the driver of said vehicle filling the tank and driving off. He was obviously Asian and wearing typical Muslim clothing
The police had tracked me via the DVLA based purely on the reg Number ~ the DVLA had supplied details of the vehicle registered to me (colour, make etc) but no-one in the West Midlands Police had thought to put the two together and see if they matched. So the opening questions of "Do you own a Blue etc" had all been gleaned from the DVLA and not from the "Evidence"

Bloody hell!

My point in a nutshell then? as soon as criminals start having their collars felt by the system they?ll stop using unregistered/untaxed/stolen vehicles and simply clone number plates? 

[Darwins Selection]

How would ANPR identify a vehicle using Red Diesel?

Not that I am bothered of course.

[Barman]

How would ANPR identify a vehicle using Red Diesel?

Not that I am bothered of course.

I thought that too?. but then thought that anybody foolish enough to use red (that wasn?t associated with the farm trade of course Darwin) probably wouldn?t have it taxed, insured or MOT?d either? 

[Misunderstood]

What's interesting is that out of 80,000 vehicles only 150 or so were stopped. What has happened to the millions of untaxed and uninsured vehicles that are supposed to be on our roads?

Maybe someone has been exaggerating 

APNR seems a brilliant solution to the crime problem but I can?t help thinking that its widespread usage will just make criminals ?clone? number plates of legal vehicles?

Already happened!  That is why they have tried to ensure that only 'registered dealers' supply plates to customers producing ID Cards (Oops - a bit previous there) suitable identity and proof of ownership of the vehicle.

Like THATS gonna work 

So the next phase is 'Security attached' plates to try to stop people nicking plates.   

The latest craze is forcing manufactures to clearly display the VIN. Which raised the interesting question of why don't they just use the VIN to identify cars? 

I'll say the next step will be bar codes or RFID on the plates which will be welded to the car.   

Oh, and the key will need to be welded to the driver.       


It's just an expensive exercise of chasing their tails.