Police seize drugs and stolen goods using licence plate readers

Police forces across the UK are set to adopt high-tech vehicle number plate reading technology next year following a successful pilot, which resulted in the seizure of illegal drugs and stolen vehicles and goods.

The automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system, reported on earlier this week by silicon.com, was tested by nine police forces for six months in a trial codenamed Project Laser. The police haul included £100,000 in drugs, 300 stolen vehicles worth over £2m and £715,000 in stolen goods and 3,000 arrests.

Frank Whiteley, chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers Steering Group on ANPR, said in a statement the scheme will drive criminals off the road.

"ANPR is a powerful tool to fight crime. We believe that by extending ANPR technology, backed up by dedicated police intercept teams, to all 280 local police command units in the country, we can effectively deny criminals the use of the roads."

The government initially put £4.65m into the scheme and the extended pilot, which will run until December 2003 across 23 police forces in England and Wales, will be partly funded out of fixed penalty fines from the ANPR system.

Results will then be evaluated ahead of an expected nationwide rollout next summer.

ANPR systems can check up to 3,000 number plates per hour on vehicles travelling up to 100mph. Number plates are then checked against databases including the Police National Computer, DVLA databases and local intelligence databases.

Home Office minister, Bob Ainsworth, said the technology led to arrest rates of 10 times the national average and will improve police efficiency.

"This is part of the Government's wider police reform agenda, designed to help forces target resources better and make officers' time on the streets more effective. Exploiting technology to improve efficiency will help the police meet their targets for continuing crime reduction and bringing criminals to justice," he said in a statement.

Earlier this week the government agency the Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) revealed its plans to use ANPR technology to tackle road safety by monitoring all 24 million privately owned vehicles in the UK for MOT and tax-dodging.