Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Picture of Automatic Number Plate Recognition camera on police ARV in Leeds.

Brig brother is here right now in Leeds and other towns and cities across the UK. I was talking to a police firearms officer on Briggate about the ARV that he and his colleague were using when I noticed the camera fixed to the roof.

I knew a little about the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) having seen it on TV and knew that many police traffic cars had it installed. As can be seen in the above photo it is also installed on some of the West Yorkshire Police ARV cars too.

Now I am quite sympathetic the the idea that the police need all the help they can get to catch the various baddies that exist in our country. ANPR is a great tool enabling the police driving around to be alerted when they pass a car flagged by the system.

ANPR can also be used to monitor car parking, not by the police but by private companies like ASDA the supermarket. Many cities across the UK have ANPR cameras fixed and watching main roads and motorway access and exit roads. Bradford has ANPR cameras across the city and it was using this network that the police were enable to track the getaway car used in a hold up at a travel agents in the city where police constable Sharon Beshenivsky was shot and killed and her colleague Teresa Millburn was seriously wounded.

Put the public (police and security service) and the private (car parks) ANPR cameras together and anyone with access to the information can build up a pretty good picture of the movements of a vehicle and its owner.

The Nazis and the various regimes of the communist run countries of the former Eastern block would have loved a system like ANPR. I suggest anyone interested in how a state can monitor and control its subjects should get and watch the film The Lives of Others (German: Das Leben der Anderen). A drama about the devastating effect of the secret Stasi police force on ordinary citizens in East Germany. I saw this film at the cinema on release and it is a good movie and regardless of the subject I would recommend it.

None of the above is meant to imply that our police here in west Yorkshire are in any way comparable to the the STASI or the GESTAPO, they do not make the rules or policy.

Armed Police

Picture of ARV in Leeds city centre and crew member. Another photo from the Leeds City Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) Open Day held on Saturday on Briggate in Leeds city centre. This police officer was one of several crew members who were on duty with their armed response vehicles (ARV) talking to members of the public about their vehicles and also their work. Each ARV has a crew of two Firearms Officers and they are armed with hand guns in this case Glock 17 semi-automatic pistols, they also have a safe on board the car, where they keep further firearms which are I think Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns. These police officer also carry the standard issue items of kit including handcuffs, radio/phone but also have a Taser and I think spare clips for the Glock. Whilst these officers are routinely on patrol and armed on the Streets of Leeds I must add that it is very rare for a member of the force to open fire apart from on the range. I had long thought that armed police were on the streets, but the vast majority of police officers are not armed except with a baton and some have CS or pepper spray. This particular officer and her colleagues spent the afternoon mostly showing young children how the sirens and blue lights worked. This PC was camera shy so I was happy to not show her face. Should any of my readers like to get a taste of police work at the sharp end I do recommend the blog of a serving police inspector..

Police Armoured Land Rover

Picture of Police Armoured Land Rover on Briggate in Leeds city centre. On Saturday the Leeds City Neighbourhood Policing Team (NPT) held an Open Day on Briggate in Leeds city centre. It was an opportunity for members of the public to meet the police and find out more about West Yorkshire Police. There were police officers and PCSOs from the NPT and also members of the various specialist departments of the local force. The specialists I was most interested to meet were crew members of a couple of the ARV Armed Response Vehicles that were on hand during the day, more of that I will post tomorrow. The Land Rover in the above photograph reg H946 HWR was parked up on Briggate and although I had not before seen this one I knew of them and indeed had spent quite a bit of time riding around in earlier versions. This vehicle is I think one of the 6 armoured Land Rovers acquired by West Yorkshire Police from the PSNI after the Bradford Riots. This is the latest version of the various armoured rovers used by the the RUC and then the PSNI and is based on a Land Rover Defender 110 civilian chassis. Not sure why but when I saw this rover I thought of Lieutenant Howard Hunter from the TV show Hill Street Blues, he would have loved this vehicle.