Have you ever witnessed a hit-and-run accident?
The car sped away, leaving the victim injured on the road. A terrifying and heartbreaking experience, right?
Don’t you just wish there was some way you could trace that car?
It’s possible!
License plate readers use advanced technology to capture images of vehicles, making it easier to identify and track down those involved in accidents or other offenses!
In this blog, you will learn everything you need to know about automatic license plate readers in modern policing. We will explain what ALPR is, how it works, the great benefits of LPR technology and even the pros and cons!
In the end, you will also learn how companies stay safe with LPR and third-party monitoring!
What are automated license plate readers (ALPRs)?
The LPR system is an intelligent surveillance system that automatically identifies and documents license plates of vehicles by using optical character recognition.
The primary purpose of the license plate reader is to track, detect, and recover stolen cars, apprehend auto thieves, and eventually deter auto theft!
How does automated license plate recognition work?
STEP #1 : High-resolution license plate scanners cameras capture image:Â
The best license plate reader cameras are placed strategically, for example, at the entrances or exit points in parking lots and auto dealerships! These can capture the images of vehicles at high speed.
The above image shows the clear difference between a regular CCTV security camera and a LPR camera. The license plates are captured even at high speed and in darkness!
Step #2: Optical Character Recognition software is activated:
This examines the captured images to extract license plate information, such as the characters and numbers contained.
What does ALPR software capture?
These cameras do not have facial recognition capabilities and do not detect the faces of individuals driving the car. They are capable of tracking:Â
- License Plate Number: The primary identifier.
- Vehicle Image: A photograph of the vehicle, including its make, model, and color.
- Location: The precise GPS coordinates where the image was captured.
- Date and Time: The timestamp of the capture.
- Additional Data: Some systems may even record the vehicle’s speed.
Step #3: ALPR database integration:
After obtaining such information, it is stored in a centralized database for reference and analysis.
What is a hotlist?
A hotlist is a record of vehicles sought by police in criminal investigations, often including stolen cars, trucks, or motorcycles involved in various offenses. The most common type of ANPR hotlist is the Police National Computer (PNC).
When the camera detects the license plate in real-time, it matches it in the database against the hotlist and triggers an alert.
This data is then uploaded to a central server, which can be analyzed and shared with various agencies. Law enforcement often uses this information to:
- Investigate Crimes: By tracking a vehicle’s movements and identifying potential suspects.
- Identify Stolen Vehicles: By comparing captured license plates against databases of stolen vehicles.
- Monitor Traffic Patterns: To analyze traffic flow and identify potential congestion points.
The use of license plate readers for law enforcement:
There is ample application for ALPRs within the law enforcement, transportation, and security sections. The standard uses include:
- Crime investigation: Identifying vehicles involved in thefts, burglaries, and murders.Â
- Amber alert system: Identifying the location of missing children and the abductors in question.Â
- Parking: Monitoring of parking violations and issuing citations.Â
- Toll collection: Automatic tracking of vehicle flow passing through toll gates.Â
- Border control: Identifying vehicles reported to be stolen or connected with criminal activities.Â
- Traffic management: Monitoring of flow of traffic to identify any bottlenecks.
- Security: Government buildings, military bases, and other high-security areas.Â
What are the different types of ALPR?
Fixed ALPR:
ALPRs can be fixed onto stationary structures, such as traffic signs or lampposts.
Local, state, and federal police departments use fixed LPRs for various public safety tasks.
Businesses, including shopping centers and parking enforcement companies, may install fixed LPRs for security and operational efficiency.
Mobile ALPR:
Modern policing uses these on police cars or surveillance vans. Some advanced systems can even function in low-light conditions or recognize license plates of moving vehicles at high speeds.
The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that smart cities using mobile ALPRs for traffic management have seen a reduction in congestion by up to 20%. This improvement is due to ALPRs’ ability to analyze traffic patterns and identify bottlenecks.
Mobile LPRs are deployed as part of ongoing patrols or special operations. Mobile systems are often used in real-time scenarios, such as during active investigations or patrols in high-crime areas.
A single ALPR camera can capture and store data on up to 1 million license plates annually!
Trailer LPR:
Trailer LPRs are installed on trailers for temporary or flexible placement.
They are helpful for temporary monitoring and surveillance where fixed infrastructure is not feasible or practical.
The Benefits of ALPR Technology:
Let’s spell out the fantastic benefits of ALPRs. These are not just high-tech machinery but can be game-changing in the solving of crimes, public safety, flow of traffic, efficiency in cost, and real-time information. Here’s how:
Faster crime solving:
Capturing the license plate of a car traveling at 200 km/h requires a high-speed camera, but that’s where ALPRs come in. By quickly scanning and cross-referencing plates, ALPRs generate leads and evidence in the blink of an eye.
According to one study taken from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, it is indicated that the ALPRs really speed up investigations, allowing law enforcement agencies to track down suspects and recover stolen vehicles with impressive efficiency.
Boosting public safety:
ALPR systems have helped recover thousands of stolen vehicles annually in the U.S. alone.
Those vehicles were involved in major crimes,
The image below displays crime data collected in four months after ALPR was implemented.
Image courtesy of MCCA.
The data suggests that ALPR technology also solved many other crimes such as kidnapping, smuggling, human trafficking, and drugs, in addition to the recovery of stolen vehicles!
Smoothing out traffic:
These devices don’t just read plates-they analyze traffic patterns and identify bottlenecks. This means they can help city planners and traffic managers tweak traffic flow and reduce congestion.
The Traffic Technology Today magazine reports that ALPR systems provide real-time data with about 95% accuracy. This high level of accuracy is crucial for timely and effective responses by law enforcement and traffic management agencies.
Offering real-time insights:
The ALPR gives real-time data about vehicle movements, which is very useful for policing, transportation planning, and security. Further, real-time feedback from ALPR helps the agencies respond quickly to incidents and make informed decisions.
Real-time data through ALPR enhances situational awareness and operational efficiency in the judgment of traffic.
Privacy Concerns and Legal Implications:
With every passing hour, new technology is being invented for surveillance. From drones, GPS, AI cameras, facial recognition devices, and automated license plate readers!
However, the question is, how is the state using surveillance technology?Â
The primary concern with automated license plate readers is the vast amount of data they capture and store. These systems record detailed vehicle information, including license plate numbers, times, locations, and even speeds—sensitive data!
The challenges of using license plate reader (LPR) technology in law enforcement are still under review, as it remains a relatively new tool in the U.S.
To examine issues about this technology, Keith Garlack in his book License Plate Readers for Law Enforcement: Opportunities and Obstacles, conducted interviews with FBI, police officers from different states of US, and others responsible for procuring and operating the LPR systems.
In his book “Virtual searches“, Christopher Slobogin discusses how the Fourth Amendment protects our privacy by requiring that searches and seizures be reasonable.
With License Plate Readers (LPR), the challenge is to use the technology in a way that respects privacy without always requiring a warrant. This means striking a balance where privacy is safeguarded, yet law enforcement can still effectively use LPR technology.
Jon Fasman, in his book “We See It All: liberty and justice in the age of perpetual surveillance” talks about the need to balance tech advancements with the protection of individual freedoms.
He calls for swift and careful regulation on who can access LPR data and under what conditions. The concern is that without proper oversight, this data could be misused by both law enforcement and private organizations.
Data Retention and Access:
Many jurisdictions have passed legislation that limits the length of time ALPR data can be retained. For example, California Public Records Act limits retention of ALPR data to no more than 90 days unless it is part of an ongoing investigation.
The regulations need to address both how long ALPR data is retained and how accessible it will be to make sure the technology is used appropriately and only for legitimate purposes.
Transparency and Oversight:
Some states have introduced transparency laws that require law enforcement to publicly disclose their access and use of ALPR-captured data. For instance, the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure demands periodic reporting with regard to the usage of the ALPRs for accountability purposes.
International Perspectives:
In Europe, the GDPR imposes strict controls on processing personal data, to which data captured through the ALPR systems belongs.
It calls for clear consent from individuals before their data is processed and puts in stringent measures for data protection.
Future of ALPR technology:
Vehicle sighting app:
The license plate vehicle sightings app uses license plates to determine the travel history and last known locations of vehicles in the United States.
The user can view billions of sighting records and plot multiple sightings of the same vehicle on a map. The service simplifies the process, making it easier for users to gather insights.
This service can track past travels of a vehicle, exactly capturing its sightings across different locations at various times. Police can use this information to track movement by an offending vehicle that will lead them to potential offenders, witnesses, or any other subject of interest.
Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) to detect vehicles:
A new technology presented at the International Symposium on Multidisciplinary Studies and Innovative Technologies (ISMSIT) is DCNN.
This new approach in License Plate Recognition (LPR) uses a Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). It’s essentially a “vehicle classifier,” but much faster and far more accurate!
- Unlike traditional methods that use bounding rectangles to locate license plates, this system uses bounding quadrilaterals. This provides a more precise outline of the license plate, improving localization accuracy.
- It not only recognizes license plates but also classifies the vehicle type and pinpoints its exact location..Â
- The DCNN is 98.8% accurate in classifying vehicles and segmenting license plates as compared to LPR.
Pros and cons of license plate reader:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Helps catch criminals | Can be inaccurate |
| ALPRs have led to significant arrests and recovery of stolen vehicles and firearms. | ALPRs have an accuracy rate of about 90%, meaning up to 10% of plates can be misread. This error rate can lead to frequent misidentifications and wrongful stops. |
| Has other uses | Can be abused |
| ALPRs are useful for traffic safety, including speed enforcement, red-light monitoring, and parking enforcement. They also assist public transit agencies with toll collection and property managers with tracking activities and enforcing parking rules. | The use of ALPRs is largely unregulated, which can lead to misuse. Instances have been reported where data from ALPRs was used for personal or non-police purposes, raising concerns about privacy and oversight. |
| Strengthens security | Creates legal questions |
| ALPRs enhance community security by providing consistent data on neighborhood crimes. Some reports claim significant reductions in crime rates and increased safety in areas equipped with ALPR systems. | The collection and storage of data from ALPRs can lead to large databases of innocent individuals’ location information, often retained for extended periods with minimal privacy protections. Concerns include potential misuse for tracking individuals seeking medical procedures across state lines. |
Is LPR successful so far in 2024?
Hundreds of businesses and citizens across North America and the U.S. benefit from license plate reader technology! The news frequently highlights successful cases where police have benefited from these technologies.
We give you a glimpse of a few of these cases:
California carjacking with LPR:Â Â
The rising crime rate in California is being brought under control through the effective use of LPR. In El Cajon, California, license plate recognition cameras played a crucial role in the arrest of a suspect involved in a series of armed robberies.
After a robbery at a gas station, the ALPR system detected the suspect’s vehicle fleeing the scene.
Consequently, this information, combined with a high-risk, helicopter-assisted traffic stop, led to the arrest of the suspect and the recovery of evidence from the crime. The use of ALPR technology helped to quickly link the suspect to multiple robberies and facilitate his arrest.
Florida police department caught criminals via LPR:
The ALPRs are stationed at numerous significant entry points in the city of Doral, Florida, in compliance with Florida’s surveillance laws.
This camera snaps the license plate and cross-references it against the national and state databases for stolen vehicles or suspects of interest, instantly sending notifications to the officers.
The Florida police department was able to solve carjacking and a series of car burglaries. Initially, data from the automated license plate reader (ALPR) system tracked the stolen vehicle through the city, leading to the arrest of the suspect.
Furthermore, In the car burglary cases, ALPR data helped detectives connect a suspect’s vehicle to the crimes, leading to the arrest of four juveniles and the recovery of stolen cars and property!
Arizona police department’s success:
The Police Executive Research Forum and Mesa, Arizona police department ran an experiment using LPRs to target auto thefts.
The study tested the efficiency of LPRs in combating auto theft compared to manual license plate checks.
They began by focusing on “hot routes”: Small sections of highway known to have high concentrations of stolen vehicle traffic.
Officers assigned the LPR units to 45 routes and assigned 45 routes to manual checks.
LPRs significantly enhance productivity, with 8 to 10 times more plates checked, almost 3 times as many hits for stolen vehicles, and two times more recoveries.
The report concluded that LPRs were much more effective in checking plates, detecting stolen vehicles, and recovering stolen vehicles than manual checks!
How can businesses benefit from license plate reader technology?
Businesses in the U.S. and Canada are increasingly turning to license plate recognition (LPR) technology to enhance security at shopping malls, construction sites, auto dealerships, and other industries.
While LPR systems have become a valuable asset for these businesses, it’s important to note that privacy regulations in many states and provinces restrict the creation and maintenance of vehicle hotlists.
These LPR cameras are typically integrated with top-notch live video monitoring centers. When a vehicle exhibits suspicious behavior, such as tailgating another vehicle to enter a parking lot or a residential complex, it triggers an alarm at the remote monitoring center.
Operators at the monitoring center can then assess the situation in real-time using live video feeds and take appropriate action based on established standard operating procedures (SOPs).
This proactive approach helps deter unauthorized access and potential security threats.
Conclusion:
The automated license plate reader revolutionized policing during modern times, giving law enforcement an unparalleled lever.
These intelligent surveillance systems provide automatic identification and documentation of vehicle license plates using optical character recognition OCR.
- ALPRs can speed up investigations by generating leads and building evidence.
- ALPRs have helped recover thousands of stolen vehicles and have helped solve crimes across the spectrum from kidnapping to smuggling and human trafficking.
- Automated license plate reader systems can analyze traffic patterns, identify bottlenecks, and optimize flow to reduce congestion.
- ALPRs generate rich real-time information about the movement of vehicles, thus enabling law enforcement and transportation agencies to make informed decisions in a timely manner.
Despite the benefits of ALPRs, there are rising concerns about privacy and the legal implications of their use. It’s crucial to carefully balance public safety with the rights of private citizens.
Contact us today for a free consultation on how remote video surveillance can further enhance ALPR technology as an excellent tool to increase security in your business!
