Serving up motoring criminals on a plate (From Gazette & Herald)

Serving up motoring criminals on a plate

North Yorkshire Police have a new gadget to help crack down on criminals.

Ryedale reporter VICTORIA YOUNG went to see it in action.

TO date I've been in a tank, a glider, a helicopter and even an armoured personal carrier, and for years it's been an ambition of mine to ride in a police patrol car.

So I jumped at the chance to take to the road with Sgt Paul Stephenson and PC Gareth Gilleard of North Yorkshire Police's eastern area road policing group to check out their new crime-busting Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) device.

My trip with the ANPR team did not disappoint, because we had two successful hits with this nifty gizmo.

The first "collar" was on the driver of a dirty white van advertising an electrical repair business, which the computer flagged up as having an expired tax disc. The motorist admitted not only the tax offence but being uninsured and not having a valid MOT. He was landed with fixed penalty notices totalling £320, and six points.

Then the ANPR recognised the number plate of a blue Mercedes saloon belonging to a known local criminal and when officers pulled in behind him he began to drive erratically.

The police stopped the car and questioned the driver who, following a Police National Computer check, turned out to have an extensive criminal record. The latest police intelligence was that he was suspected to be involved in supplying drugs. After searching the car, Sgt Stephenson and PC Gilleard let him drive off and updated police intelligence.

It's easy to see how valuable a tool the device is.

Its cameras scan the number plate of a passing vehicle, the image appears on a screen and the computer instantly checks with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to see if any "markers" have been placed against the number - for example to say that the vehicle excise licence has not been renewed, the vehicle is not insured, or the vehicle has a Statutory Off Road Notification and therefore should not be driven on public highways.

If there are markers, you certainly know about it. The computer announces the fact with an electronic fanfare, and the screen displays the keeper's name, address, and details of the markers.

The computer then makes an automatic check with police computer records to see whether, say, officers may have a stolen car on their hands, whether the owner is wanted on warrant, or whether the car is known to have been used by crooks. Further checks, for example on criminal records, are made by officers through the force control room.

Armed with the incriminating information, the ANPR operators can either target the vehicle themselves or convey the details to colleagues to deal with. The ANPR can be used while both stationary and moving, and all sorts of criminals can be caught in its dragnet.

Sergeant Stephenson recalled: "We were on the A64 at Staxton the other day and the ANPR picked up an Audi travelling in the opposite direction. The PNC check revealed that it had made off from a Tesco petrol station in West Yorkshire without payment so we stopped it and arrested the driver," said Sgt Stephenson.

New laws mean that the police can punish people for some offences on the spot with fixed penalty notices. If a motorist is found to be driving with no insurance they can opt to argue their case before magistrates or receive an automatic £200 fine and six penalty points; failure to display a tax disc earns a £60 fine, as does not having an MOT; and seatbelt violations are £30.

In a recent exercise in Seamer Road, Scarborough, the ANPR scanned 880 vehicles in two hours. The computer alerted officers to 38 suspect vehicles and a number of drivers received fixed penalty notices.

"The majority of crime is committed by the minority - the few criminals out there in North Yorkshire," said Sgt Stephenson.

"Almost all criminals use the roads, so if we can target these criminals on the road then we can reduce the majority of crime. We can target travelling criminals who come across the borders into North Yorkshire because they think it's easy pickings."

But however advanced their equipment, police officers still need the Ryedale community to be their eyes and ears.

As Sgt Stephenson said: "We don't have all the information about criminals - but people out there do.

"We need them to ring our witness line and let us know. It could be something small like reporting a motorist acting suspiciously, or a known criminal who has a new car."

To report anything suspicious, however insignificant it may seem, contact the Ryedale Witness Line on 01723 509662 or York police on 01904 631321.

Updated: 11:56 Thursday, April 29, 2004