UK’s Lancashire Constabulary and County Council have collaborated on a trial to control motor vehicle-based crime. The trial, which combines RFID vehicle registration tags and number plate recognition cameras, has been operating at a number of sets of traffic lights in the cities of Lancaster and Preston. The system records number plates and compares it to the information obtained from the vehicle’s RFID registration tag. Any discrepancies in the data will alert the traffic control systems and police resources, allowing traffic lights to kept on red, giving police in the vicinity time to reach the suspect vehicle and question the occupants. If no police are in the vicinity, photos of the vehicle will be taken, followed up on by authorities and used as potential evidence in any criminal proceedings.
So far, the trial has been very effective, with a number of significant arrests made and some large motor vehicle re-birthing rings uncovered. A police spokesperson also claims that it has had a flow-on effect in preventing other crimes, such as violent robberies and ram raids.
The spokesperson went on to say, “this is just the start of the potential application of this technology. We also see a role for parking enforcement officers to provide valuable data for the system. They will be provided with RFID scanning equipment, and can manually check for any discrepancies, sending an alert to the authorities, with GPS location data also provided automatically with the alert.”
Civil liberties groups and local motorist associations are not convinced. Comments in This is Lancashire have slammed the initiative, with one person claiming “this is yet another infringement on our rights and an invasion of our privacy. Who knows how this information is being used by our authorities?”
