ABSTRACT
Recent advances in camera, database and optical character recognition technologies have contributed to the emergence of a new hybrid surveillance technology – Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), also referred to as Automated Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR). Since its inception, ANPR has been used in a variety of applications, from road-tolling and traffic management to access control, counter-terrorism and, more recently, mainstream policing. To date, the use of vehicle licence plate recognition as a police technology has received scant attention from surveillance scholars and criminologists alike. This chapter addresses this lacuna, providing an overview of the emergence and current state of ANPR within law enforcement in the UK, USA and Canada. Some of the arguments and rationalities that underpin support for the proliferation of this policing technology are also examined, and issues of privacy, data security/accuracy and discrimination are discussed in the hope of generating awareness and debate about the spread of this emerging surveillance technology.
