Skip to content

OPP hitting the road with new licence plate recognition tech

THUNDER BAY – The OPP has new tech to help catch drivers on the road with expired or suspended licenses.
370830_60218773
The OPP's automatic license plate recognition camera, located on the top of the cruiser, helps officers more effectively nab drivers with expired or suspended licenses as well as track down stolen vehicles or plates. (Matt Vis, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – The OPP has new tech to help catch drivers on the road with expired or suspended licenses.

More than two dozen cruisers, including three in Northwestern Ontario, are equipped with automatic license plate recognition equipment, which captures license plate numbers of other vehicles and searches through a database.

Traffic Sgt. David Bel said the vehicles have two cameras, one forward facing towards oncoming traffic and a second at the rear of the car.

“The camera is capable of reading two plates per second,” Bel said.

“While the officer is driving the vehicle is reading plates and searching the database to see if there are any vehicles that have been targeted or designated for expiry for drivers that are unlicensed, suspended, drivers that are wanted or where plates are missing or stolen.”

One Thunder Bay driver learned about the effectiveness of the cameras last week, when he was stopped twice on back-to-back days in the Ottawa area and charged with two counts of driving while under a suspension.

It only takes a matter of seconds for the officer to realize a vehicle has been flagged.

“When there is a hit on a suspected plate the officer is alerted in the vehicle there is a plate that has matched the database,” Bel said.

“The officer then ensures the plate looked at on the screen matches the vehicle. The vehicle is then stopped and the officer conducts a further investigation.”

The Thunder Bay detachment has had the one vehicle with the recognition system for about a year now. The other two vehicles in the region are located in Kenora and Nipigon.

Even just having the one car has achieved a higher rate of success.

“The offences have gone up since this tool is working so quickly,” he said. “We have noticed a market increase, probably a 50 per cent increase, in the number of suspended drivers, expired validation on the plates, stolen vehicles and stolen plates.”

 





push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks