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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-09-23 Daily Xml
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AUTOMATIC NUMBERPLATE RECOGNITION

Mr PICCOLO (Light) (14:26): Can the Minister for Police inform the house about today's launch of a trial by SA Police of mobile automatic numberplate recognition cameras?

The Hon. M.J. WRIGHT (Lee—Minister for Police, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:27): Today I had the pleasure of joining Chief Superintendent Paul Schramm in launching a trial of mobile automated numberplate recognition cameras. These state-of-the-art cameras will be fitted into four patrol cars, with each car having three ANPR cameras, two forward facing and one on the side, with the ability to scan registration plates of parked vehicles.

As a vehicle licence plate is read by the camera, the image is displayed on an LCD screen visible to police officers, and an audible tone alerts police if a registration numberplate matches a vehicle of interest. The cameras will be able to record the location of a vehicle at an exact time, have the capacity to scan a high volume of vehicle plates and work in all weather and lighting conditions.

Automatic numberplate recognition is widely used by transport agencies, compliance and enforcement authorities across the world. It increases the potential for offenders to be identified and stopped and appropriate policing responses undertaken. Intelligence, particularly relating to vehicle location, can link criminals to these vehicles as well as linking vehicles to crime scenes.

The cameras will also be able to identify unroadworthy vehicles and those that are unregistered, uninsured or stolen. SA Police will trial the cameras until the end of the year to assess their capacity to support police operations, crime reduction and road safety strategies. If the trial is successful, the use of these mobile ANPR cameras will be expanded even further, giving SAPOL a high-tech tool that will boost its crime-fighting ability.

Prior to today's announcement, SAPOL has been using two tripod-mounted ANPR cameras. The tripod-mounted cameras have been used by Operation Nomad to monitor vehicle activity in and around high-risk bushfire areas during days of extreme fire danger, as well as other tasks.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to meet with the head of operations at the National Policing Improvement Agency in London, who told us that, in areas where an ANPR technology has been deployed, there has been a considerable increase in the number of arrests. The majority of arrests, due to the use of these cameras in the UK, have been for criminal offences such as drugs and theft or they been the subject of an arrest warrant rather than driving offences.

The UK experience has shown automatic numberplate recognition technology is a powerful crime-fighting tool with enormous potential. I am confident that SAPOL's trial will prove to be very successful and that we will see the use of ANPR cameras in South Australia expanded in the near future.

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