The technology captures images to identify number plates. It uses optical character recognition to read the vehicle registration mark from the number plate however it is presented. ANPR systems can use images from:

• Dedicated cameras, which are primarily in vehicles or fixed sites, or
• Existing video cameras which have been modified, such as town centre closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

For a number of years, the police have also used ANPR systems at strategic locations such as ports,  and key strategic locations including the "ring of steel" around the City of London. The improvements in the technology and an overall reduction in IT costs have led police to look to ANPR as a proactive tool to target criminals using the roads.

The National ANPR Infrastructure includes the following:

• Back Office Facility (BOF II) which is available to each police force
• National ANPR Data Centre (NADC) which will receive all the data from force BOFs

Version 2.2 of the BOF has been delivered to all forces and we are aiming to deliver the next version 2.3 to all forces during the early part of 2010.

Who uses ANPR?

• Every police force in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, including the British Transport Police.
• Other Government Department/ Agencies (HMIC, SCDCA, MOD, SPSA, HMRC and SOCA)
  

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Key features

• Can be used to assist the police to intercept vehicles of interest to them 
• Gather intelligence and provide support to investigations
• The National ANPR Data Centre (NADC) provides the ability to centrally search data captured in England and Wales and analyse ANPR reads from all cameras in the infrastructure
• Move towards multi-agency collaboration and information sharing in the future
  

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NPIA Role

• Manage the procurement for the design, development, implementation and training of a Back Office Facility (BOF II) to enable all Police Forces and other Government agencies to retrieve and analyse data from reading Vehicle Registration Marks nationally. 
• Provide an assisted implementation to enable forces to use ANPR in a standardised way and exract the best from the technology

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Who can I contact to find out more?

Each force or agency is represented through thier Regional User Group at the National User Group.  To find out your force or agency representative email the NPIA ANPR team.

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Working in partnership

We are working together with PND and the INI project team as well as a significant number of stakeholders in order to continue to develop ANPR to its full potential and to make a unique contribution to improving public safety.

We are also working with the Olympics Delivery Authority to ensure ANPR makes a major contribution to the 2012 Olympic Games security operation.

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