U.K. Police Track Suspicious Vehicles in Real Time with Cameras
and the License Plate Database
|
A
|
lmost every city street in London is under
constant video surveillance, partly as a reaction to terrorist attacks. These
closed-circuit cameras initially created tapes that could be viewed later, but
the technology now is far more capable. The cameras are equipped with automatic
license plate recognition capabilities, which use optical character recognition
to decipher the license plate numbers and letters in near real-time (Figure
4-29).
The camera’s data
is sent to the national ANPR Data Centre in north London, which also houses the
Police National Computer. Cameras are widespread throughout the city, and many
are mounted on police vehicles. Each camera can perform 100 million license
plate reads per day. Each vehicle’s plate number is combined with the camera’s GPS
location and a timestamp, so the Oracle database at the Data Center contains
detailed information about the whereabouts of almost every vehicle.
Since the
database is linked to the Police National Computer, police on the beat can
query it to see whether a nearby vehicle is flagged for some reason.
Cross-checking the license plate information against the crime database can
turn up vehicles involved in crimes or registered to wanted criminals. In one
case, a police constable was killed during a robbery, and police were able to
track the getaway car because its license plate was read by the cameras. For
cameras mounted on vehicles, the officer does not even need to send a query. An
audio alert goes off when the camera’s image matches a flagged license plate
number, prompting the police to investigate.
Beyond criminal
activity, the police database contains extensive information linked to the
license plate data. For instance, a car might show that it is registered to
someone who owes parking fines, or who is uninsured. The data might also show
that the license plate is attached to the wrong vehicle, pointing to stolen
plates.
The data are
maintained for 5 years, creating a rich repository for data mining. One study
found that certain cars triggered no flags, but seemed to be making impossibly
quick journeys from one end of town to the other. Police discovered that car
thieves were trying to outwit ANPR by “car cloning,” in which the perpetrators
duplicate a real license plate and attach it to a stolen car of the same make
and model.
Law enforcement
agencies see the license plate database, the cameras that feed it, and its
integration with police data as a revolutionary advance, even though there are
still gaps in coverage and the technology itself is not perfect. For example,
rain, fog, and snow can interfere, and the plate itself might be blurred by
mud. The plates themselves vary quite a bit, with different colors, fonts, and
background images. Despite the drawbacks, police departments in the United States
and other countries are rapidly adopting the system, buying camera equipped cars,
and developing smartphone access to databases.
Privacy
advocates, however, are concerned about the mounting power of integrated
databases and surveillance technologies to scrutinize human behavior. One judge
remarked, “A person who knows all of another’s travels can deduce whether he is
a weekly churchgoer, a heavy drinker, a regular at the gym, an unfaithful
husband, an outpatient receiving medical treatment, or an associate of a
particular individual or political group.” The United Kingdom is tightening
regulations to provide better protections for citizens in an attempt to balance
privacy concerns against the enormous value these databases offer to law
enforcement.
Discussion
Questions
4-31. Describe the manner in which data elements are linked across
databases.
4-32. What technical and physical challenges does this information
system face?
4-33. What human capital capabilities for law enforcement
are necessary to make the database more effective?
4-34. What are the relevant considerations to balance the police’s
ability to investigate versus the citizens’ need for privacy?
Sources: Crump, C. (March 19,
2013). ACLU in court today arguing that GPS tracking requires a warrant.
ACLU.org,
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/aclu-courttoday-arguing-gps-tracking-requires-warrant,
accessed March 24, 2013.
Du, S., Ibrahim, M., Shehata, M.,
& Badawy, W. (2013). Automatic license plate recognition (APLR): A state of
the art review. IEEE Transactions on Circuits & Systems for Video
Technology (Feb. 2013), 23(2), 311–325. Retrieved from Business Source Premier,
April 4, 2013.
Mathieson, S. A., & Evans, R.
(August 27, 2012). Roadside cameras suffer from large gaps in coverage, police
admin. The Guardian,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/27/policenumber-plate-cameras-network-patchy,
accessed March 24, 2013.
National Vehicle Tracking
Database, http://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/National_Vehicle_Tracking_Database,
accessed March 24, 2013.
Police in Jackson, MS, use Genetec
license plate recognition technology. (March 14, 2013). Government Security
News, http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/28730?c=law_enforcement_first_responders,
accessed March 24, 2013.
Created by :
- Adam Fernando (0000009257)
- Andri Alvian (00000004758)
- Aryo Theo (000000007083)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8MZGt1RavZPNmM3YUxUMXNaWXc/view?usp=sharing
