As part of a trial for an interesting new system, South Australian police have begun using patrol cars fitted with a camera system capable of instantly reading and analysing number plates of cars driving past.

The Automated Number Plate Recognition camera system will automatically run the number plate of cars through its system and tell the police whether a car is not meant to be on the road, be it unregistered, uninsured or even stolen.

The idea is to take the element of random checking out and have all cars passing by checked, allowing police to better catch offenders. Additionally the technology can be used to catch criminals by linking known offenders to certain number plates that were spotted in crime scenes.

“As a vehicle licence plate is read by the camera, the image is displayed on an LCD screen visible to police officers and an audible tone alerts police if a registration number plate matches a vehicle of interest,” Assistant Commissioner Killmier said.

As a vehicle licence plate is read by the camera an audible tone alerts police if the number plate is flagged for any reason.