Police Using Licence Plate-Reading Cameras to Monitor Drivers
13 Jan 2021
An English police force is using licence plate recognition technology to monitor drivers and make sure they are only making “essential” journeys during the third Chinese coronavirus lockdown.
According to the UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is used to “disrupt criminality” and track travelling “criminals, Organised Crime Groups, and terrorists”.
Devon and Cornwall Police’s ‘crime tsar’ announced on Monday that the force will be using the technology to check alleged breaches of lockdown. Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez complained of reports of “hundreds” of “covid breaches” when Britons from other parts of the country travelled to their second homes in the West Country.