If you see York Regional Police cruisers with cameras mounted on them in the near future, the cameras are probably the police's new automated licence plate readers.

The automated licence plate reader system uses three cameras to automatically read licence plates on vehicles while the officer is on patrol. It will be installed on some of the YRP fleet.

The system provides the officer with an alert for infractions such as stolen licence plates, a driver's licence suspension, expired validation or failure to have insurance. The officer will confirm the information obtained from the automatic reader once a traffic stop is conducted.

The system can read 3,000 to 5,000 licence plates in a 12-hour shift, police said.

Many other police services in Ontario and throughout Canada use this technology.

"This technology will allow the officers to process information on far more licence plates than manually entering information," Insp. Ed Villamere of the York Regional Police Road Safety Bureau said.

YRP's automated license plate reader program has been established in accordance with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario's 2017 guidance on the use of the systems, police said.

Any personal information collected by York Regional Police by way of the automated licence plate readers is done for the purposes of roadside-related law enforcement in accordance with section 29 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection and Privacy Act.

Questions about this collection may be directed to York Regional Police Freedom of Information Unit at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6740.