Essex County OPP entirely geared up with licence plate recognition tech

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Be encouraged, Essex County motorists: OPP are regularly surveilling your licence plates.

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On Monday, Essex County OPP announced that all of their patrol cars are now equipped with Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) engineering.

The end result of a province-large initiative, the procedure involves mounted rotating cameras that automatically scan and record licence plates in the vicinity of the law enforcement auto as it travels.

The cameras are tied to a pc “hot list” that alerts officers if a plate is involved with an expired registration, a suspended or prohibited driver, a lacking individual, an Amber Alert, and felony issues these kinds of as thefts or needed folks.

OPP officers have described the system as acquiring another set of eyes on patrol — totally committed to monitoring licence plates.

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The technologies was made a lot more than a 10 years back. Windsor Police Service started equipping their automobiles with it in October 2020.

Given that then, the Ontario govt has made investments with the purpose of introducing ALPR tech to each individual frontline motor vehicle utilized by provincial and municipal police companies.

“I’ll convey to you… It is amazing,” stated OPP spokesman Const. Kerry Schmidt even though demonstrating the procedure. “If your licence is expired, you much better not be on the road. And if you are, this program is heading to catch you.”

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As component of the ALPR methods, all Essex County OPP patrol autos also now have in-vehicle digicam (ICC) video recording.

These recordings are meant to maximize transparency and accountability, as very well as enrich proof gathering through law enforcement interactions with the general public.

Like overall body cam recordings, in-motor vehicle digital camera recordings are ruled by rigorous privateness laws.

The Ontario Provincial Police Affiliation, which signifies the pursuits of all OPP uniform officers and civilian members, has gone on report that it thoroughly supports the implementation and deployment of ICC and ALPR technologies.