ANPR cameras

austin

austin

Well-Known Member
Did anyone else read about the ANPR cameras in the weekend papers? I knew police cars had them and used them to catch the uninsured/taxed/wanted etc. What I didn't realise is that there are also hundreds of them all around the country silently photographing every vehicle that passes and retaining the photo (or the relevant data from the photo like reg no. date, time, direction of travel, occupants) for two years "just in case". This all came to light because the police want to keep the data for 7 years, again "just in case". I assume that police car you see at the side of the road apparently doing nothing may be doing just the same.

Now if you have nothing to hide then there is in theory not a lot to worry about, but this really is the stuff of the "police state" as your movements around the country are no business of the police/state without reasonable grounds for tracking you. Even worse your innocent movements could match the profile of terrorists or criminals leading to further investigation and possibly arrest. Its not good.

On another note.....a few years ago one the political parties had a conference in Blackpool. Each and every road into Blackpool had a gantry installed with some very fancy cameras on them that were apparently tied into the ANPR system and to some face recognition software looking for known criminals and terrorists. Once spotted there we other cameras that could track their movement.

It really is getting a bit Big Brotherish here. :(
 
outrunner

outrunner

Well-Known Member
Yes, we have them up here as well, I remember asking about them a while ago and was told it was "to monitor traffic flow" which I obviously knew to be the truth. ;)



Andy.
 
P

Philwhiskeydrinker

Well-Known Member
I never saw it but why doesn't it surprise me....
I have however read that all the new 'smart' motorways have the ability to not just have variable speed limits but the gantry cameras monitor/capture both spot speed AND average speed between multiple gantries, aparently some authorities are prosecuting for 1mph over the national speed limit....

Not only that the infrastructure is built in so they can easily be 'upgraded' to make them toll motorways.

It's great to know our money is being invested wisely.

phil
 
M

Mahout

New Member
APNR cameras are also used to monitor the comings and goings of drug dealers and burglars. In rural crime spots they can be used to monitor quiet roads using mobile units. I think APNR is a good tool to catch tax/insurance /MOT dodgers/low level scum.

Speed cameras are a different proposition. Is it the camera that is the problem? or is it the frustration of having to ride/drive slower than strictly necessary.

I don't mind the authorities sifting through 7 years worth of journeys consisting of: home/work/home/work/home/work..........

Rich
 
Rubberchicken

Rubberchicken

Well-Known Member
I do.

I'd like to say it's none of their business but I can see a need for the tax/insurance/scum/etc things. However. Keeping it all for 7 years is daft, that's just asking for any old thing that might one day prove useful. That's a kid asking for a pony... For the tax/insurance type things you don't need history, you just need to run the days batch against the tax/insurance databases, send out a bunch of "invoices" then toss the raw data. There's no conceivable reason to keep this stuff longer than say a week. Ditto catching scum, if you're looking for a specific piece of scum you should already have a pretty good reason to want them, you don't need 7 years of history to nail them. If you need 7 years of backlog then your case isn't strong enough and you're just fishing.

If they really want it that badly they can at least write up a thorough case for why this is so bloody important that they get to clobber what little privacy still remains.

"Just in case" isn't good enough.
 
austin

austin

Well-Known Member
Mahout said:
APNR cameras are also used to monitor the comings and goings of drug dealers and burglars. In rural crime spots they can be used to monitor quiet roads using mobile units. I think APNR is a good tool to catch tax/insurance /MOT dodgers/low level scum.

Speed cameras are a different proposition. Is it the camera that is the problem? or is it the frustration of having to ride/drive slower than strictly necessary.

I don't mind the authorities sifting through 7 years worth of journeys consisting of: home/work/home/work/home/work..........

Rich
Click to expand...

Agree on the catching insurance/tax dodgers and criminals but ANPR cameras monitor and record EVERYONE all the time and then keep it on file for two years now, probably for seven years in the future. As rubber chicken also said, it seems to be for no other reason than "just in case" there are suspicions that you or I just might be criminals or terrorists at which point the ANPR database will be mined for details of journey you or I have made - a fishing trip in other words to bolster a weak case. It seems unreasonable to keep billions of records on innocent people just in case.

Combine all that ANPR data with the email, mobile and internet data that is now being kept and just about your entire private life is exposed to the police and government. You have to be a Luddite technophobe who cycles everywhere and only used cash to keep you life private these days.

Speed cameras, no problem as long as they are in the right places.
 
Steve T

Steve T

Well-Known Member
The Police, at least up in Jockland, don't bother their collective hairy arses about road tax evasion and lack of insurance, so this ANPR data retention is all BullSh1t.

"Go tell the DVLA" is their answer to any trangressions brought to their attention!

It's to cover their inability to properly do what they are paid to do and police our country. "Lets let the computers handle . . . .cos we can't be arsed"!
 
Mervin

Mervin

Active Member
Forum Supporter
Just drive down the M74 from Scotland into england and look at the array of cameras on one bridge , they have been there for years, watching what comes across the border , and that is the main route down from Northern Ireland , but if i noticed them then so will any smart person that is up to no good and they will avoid them
 
Raymo

Raymo

Active Member
yup big data,

this is why they have big super computers.....

ohh sorry they are to model the weather :)
 
OhJ

OhJ

Active Member
SWP have used ANPR cameras for year with success against Drug runners. Looking at traffic times and plate numbers tracking dodgy ones from London, Manchester to sites in Wales.
 
hotbulb

hotbulb

Active Member
No doubt they help the fight against drug running etc. But it's no big leap in imagination to see how the same cameras would make it very easy for a government bent on privatising everything (the present bunch?) to introduce tolls on any/all roads!
The money would be better spent on providing actual plod who could bring a bit of common sense into road policing. We currently have the position that, on the Friday night before Christmas, there were only a handfull of traffic plod covering all of Gwent, including the M4.
 
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