Transaction Search Form: please type in any of the fields below.
Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:54 am
Time: 12:54 am
Results for automated license plate recognition systems
1 results foundAuthor: Cohen, Irwin M. Title: A Report on the Utility of the Automated Licence Plate Recognition System in British Columbia Summary: With the high rate of auto theft in British Columbia and the general risk to the public from unlicenced, prohibited, or uninsured drivers, the RCMP, other municipal police forces, and the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia continue to develop and test a myriad of strategies to keep citizens safe. One such strategy is the deployment of Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology. Over the last decade, British Columbia has had the reputation of being a world leader in auto thefts per capita. In 2003, 40,000 cars and trucks were stolen in British Columbia, with 30,000 of these stolen from within the Greater Vancouver Regional District (Schuurman, 2007). More specifically, until very recently, the city of Surrey, British Columbia, was known as the auto theft capital of the world (Schuurman, 2007). In 2005 alone, the city of Surrey experienced nearly 6,500 auto thefts (Schuurman, 2007). As part of a more general response to auto theft, in 2006, IMPACT (Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team) began to examine the utility and feasibility of ALPR. The current study will discuss the results of the initial phase of the testing of this technology and its effectiveness in assisting police to respond to auto theft and other auto-related offences. ALPR technology uses illumination to highlight a licence plate, allowing a camera to take a photograph of the car’s licence plate. The plate image is then scanned by image-processing software which extracts the necessary data and compares the data against any number of police databases (Gordon and Wolf, 2007). ALPR software is a form of Optical Character Recognition which scans images and recognizes the characters present (Gordon and Wolf, 2007). Theoretically, ALPR can scan up to 3,600 plates per hour, either from a moving or stationary platform (Pughe, 2006). The technology can work in all lighting and weather conditions. ALPR was originally designed for use with parking lot security to regulate, for example, entry to the location or to record time of entry (Gordon and Wolf, 2007). However, current technology allows the licence plate to be compared with information stored on a variety of databases, such as stolen car hotlists or prohibited driver databases. While currently in use in British Columbia to identify stolen vehicles and unlicenced, uninsured, and/or prohibited drivers, ALPR can also assist the police to identify persons of interest associated with other criminal activity. According to a recent article (Canada NewsWire, 2007), auto theft is associated with a wide range of criminal activity, including the offences of break and enter, armed robbery, and drug-related offences. In other words, offenders steal cars for use in the commission of additional offences. For example, drug offenders may steal from within cars, but may also steal the car to raise money to purchase drugs (Schuurman, 2007). Those engaged in break and enters may steal cars to transport the stolen property. Given this, ALPR may have the benefit of assisting the police to uncover other crimes in the course of investigating prohibited, unlicenced, or uninsured drivers. As such, ALPR has the capacity to deter criminal activity, assist in locating offenders, and recover stolen property. The ability of ALPR to assist in these critical police functions is based on research suggesting that those who consistently violate traffic regulations often have a criminal history (Rose, 2000). For example, Chenery, Henshaw, and Pease (1999) found that one-third of people who illegally parked in disabled parking spots had a previous criminal record, nearly half (49 per cent) had a history of traffic violations, and one-fifth (21 per cent) were of immediate police interest or were known or suspected of having involvement with other criminal activities (18 per cent). In this study, registered keepers of vehicles who were of immediate interest to the police, who had a criminal record, whose vehicle had a history of traffic violations, whose vehicle had been used in the past for criminal activity, or who had a current vehicle illegality were all significantly more likely to be parked illegally than legally (Chenery, Henshaw, & Pease, 1999). This research suggests that ALPR can assist police beyond catching traffic violators by providing an additional tool to identify those individuals who are wanted by the police. The literature on ALPR is, to date, fairly limited. Although the technology has been used in various countries across the world, very little research on its utility has been conducted. The following sections will review the history of use of ALPR, discuss the current research project, and consider the known benefits and limitations of the technology. Details: Vancouver, BC: University College of the Fraser Valley, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2007. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 18, 2013 at: http://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/ccjr/publications/ALPR.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Canada URL: http://www.ufv.ca/media/assets/ccjr/publications/ALPR.pdf Shelf Number: 129454 Keywords: Automated License Plate Recognition SystemsAutomobile Theft (Canada)Motor Vehicle TheftPolice Technology |