Police in Newton Abbot are using a specialist automatic number plate recognition team to 'deny criminals the use of the roads'.
In 10 hours, two arrests were made and nine vehicles were seized in an operation on the A380 at Eagle Farm and St Marychurch Road areas of Newton Abbot. The team carried out 121 checks between 10am and 3pm on Wednesday and Thursday, discovering £500 worth of cocaine in one vehicle and arresting a person who was wanted in Avon and Somerset for failing to appear at court.
'Our main concern is catching people who commit crimes and then flee to other areas, hoping to remain undetected,' said DC Pybus, the field intelligence officer at Newton Abbot police station. 'This new system is much more effective than random checks. We can check up on criminals without having to stop any law abiding road users,' she said. The system is linked up to the Police National Computer, facilitating police surveillance operations and the swapping of data on 'prolific offenders' between forces. As soon as the computer on the ANPR vehicle picks up a number plate, all their details are transmitted to officers who will stop and seize them there and then.
ANPR cameras can monitor traffic over four lanes at speeds of up to 100mph. If ANPR cameras are positioned on a bridge over a dual carriageway they are able to monitor all four lanes of traffic going in either direction. Linked to the DVLA and a National Insurance Database, the cameras can identify untaxed, unroadworthy and uninsured vehicles. During the checks, six vehicles were seized for committing vehicle document crime and three for having red diesel in their fuel tank. Some 19 tickets were issued to drivers not wearing seatbelts or talking on their mobile phones. 'We will be conducting these operations regularly and without warning and will stop anyone who has committed an offence,' said a police spokesman.