New ANPR vans will enhance road safety
Essex Police has taken delivery of two new automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) interceptor vans which will play an important role in keeping roads safe across Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock.
The state of the art vehicles are equipped with ANPR technology, airwave terminals and a sophisticated intelligence system that will enable officers to detect and deter criminals who use the road networks to commit crime.
The use of ANPR technology has already proven to be a highly effective tool in the detection of many offences, including recovering stolen vehicles and intercepting criminals in the process of committing crime.
While the cameras are not linked to speed enforcement, the technology can be used to identify uninsured, untaxed and unlicensed vehicles as well as saving valuable police time, resources and enquiries to advance investigations and gather intelligence.
A study carried out by researchers from Monash University in Australia identified a link between criminal activity and road safety.
The research suggests a positive relationship between antisocial behaviours and risky driving behaviour, and criminal behaviour and traffic offences including drink driving, driving while disqualified and ‘risky traffic behaviour contributing to a crash’.
Assistant Chief Constable Matthew Horne said: “These two new ANPR interceptor vans provide a state of the art tactical capability to fight crime and keep our roads safe.
“The fact that districts can bid for them and have an operator trained within half an hour affords great flexibility and agility for operations.”
4 September 2015