ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the historical development of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) surveillance technologies in the United Kingdom (UK) and specifically the use of this surveillance tool by the British police. In particular, it also deals with the growth of the use of ANPR against high-profile instances of crises in the form of political unrest and terrorist attacks. The chapter outlines the development of the National ANPR Strategy in the UK, which has led to a network of over 8,000 cameras feeding into to a centralised police database. It considers the current operational uses of ANPR in the context of big data before describing some key controversies that have arisen surrounding ANPR. The contemporary National ANPR system in the UK really works in three distinct ways. They are: to enable an automated response to motoring violations, allow the real-time interception of 'suspect' vehicles and through the generation of intelligence profiles based on the analysis of the stored data.
