Portable automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras are being deployed on Royal Air Force bases across the UK, in a move to detect and deter unsafe driving and riding and improve road safety.
The technology is being supplied by the vehicle-activated signs company Westcotec, following two years of development work and liaison between Westcotec’s technicians and the RAF Police, who are responsible for compliance with speed limits and wider road safety issues on RAF bases.
Westcotec says its fully portable ANPR system has shown itself to be ‘extremely efficient in reducing speeds’, both on public roads and private sites. The unit can be battery powered, giving it the ability to be moved around multiple locations to obtain maximum benefit and coverage.
Number plate images are stored securely on the ANPR unit, which uses its own wi-fi to connect securely to a laptop, from where images can be accessed through Westcotec’s dedicated viewing software.
Olly Samways, Westcotec head of sales, said: “We know the RAF takes safety very seriously, including the safety of those who use the roads on its bases.
“Our ANPR camera systems should prove key in working towards the RAF’s goal of achieving 100% compliance with speed limits.”
Based in Dereham in Norfolk, Westcotec specialises in vehicle-activated signs. The company manufactures a range of products and develops new technology, all designed to ‘help keep people safe on the roads’.
The RAF are using it on their bases I would say. As such they will have a register of vehicles permitted entry. No need to use DVLA.
Even if they did there are regulations in the use of ANPR and the DVLA search. Why do you think the RAF wouldn’t comply?
Despite being the junior service and being under the shadow of the boys and girls in a darker blue, I’m sure they will manage a few surveillance regs. After all, they did save us all in 1940.
Steve Callaghan, Kendal
0
ANPR is a far more efficient way of capturing details of offenders (anywhere) as opposed to individuals having to stand at the roadside manually noting registration numbers. What happens next as far as identifying the driver is probably the same procedure i.e. accessing DVLA records or, presumably on a military base, personnel records, so I don’t see why people shoud get worked up about it.
Hugh Jones, Cheshire
--11
Bradley has a point, though I think it is intended for land based vehicles rather than aircraft (hee).
ANPR should not be allowed outside services like the Police or MI5 and then permission should be obtained to access records on individuals of interest, it is a surveillance tool not a means for private companies to extort money. Data for which there is no interest should be deleted after a time period, say a year.
It is typical of how the Govt. embraces new technology… Let it proceed and see if anyone complains about it. Our freedoms and right to privacy are being eroded behind our backs.
P.Flint, Leeds
+20
Are they going to stick an ANPR camera on the nose of a Typhoon following an F18 Hornet in a vertical climb? Is there no end to this misuse of technology? ANPR is given a free reign in the UK for use by those who follow practices close to the edge of the law, like car park profiteers making a dishonest buck by misleading people so they can be ticketed extortionately. It needs regulation.
Bradley, Cambridge
+27