ANPR policing operation takes fight to the criminals

Officers from Northamptonshire Police stepped up their fight to deny criminals the use of the county’s roads throughout March as part of a special operation utilising the ANPR network.

ANPR - Automatic Number Plate Recognition - reads the registration of passing vehicles and checks them across several databases, raising the alert if a vehicle is stolen, linked to crime/intelligence or doesn’t have the correct documentation.

The month-long crackdown - named Operation Opus - focussed on community intelligence and uninsured vehicles which resulted in more than 300 vehicles of interest being stopped.

Of those stopped by officers, 100 were seized for a range of offences, such as having no insurance, being reported stolen or linked to a suspected crime, and a further 12 were subject to roadside searches.

In addition to this, officers arrested 19 of the vehicle occupants on suspicion of a variety of offences, including assault, robbery, burglary, theft, driving whilst under the influence of drugs, driving whilst disqualified, failing to attend court and recall to prison.

Head of Proactive Crime and Intelligence, Superintendent Lee McBride, said: “This operation was executed flawlessly by officers from various teams, supported by the Force’s ANPR Intelligence Desk.

“These results once again demonstrate the danger ANPR poses to those who look to use our roads illegally or to commit their crimes as we continue to take the fight back to the criminals.

“Our message is simple – if you want to use our roads to commit crime, it won’t be long before you see blue lights in your rear-view mirror, and you’ve booked a non-negotiable trip to our custody suite.”

The Force’s ANPR network has more than doubled in recent years with just over 150 additional new cameras installed since 2020, increasing coverage across rural areas and major towns as well as on the county borders.

Officers would like to utilise this resource as much as possible by asking members of the public to get in touch with details of suspicious vehicles that they feel officers need to look out for.

Supt McBride added: “Whilst we of course collect intelligence on suspicious vehicles ourselves, we would also ask the community to be our eyes on the ground and report anything out of place that they see to either ourselves or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

“You can do this completely anonymously as we don’t need to know who you are, just what you know. If you think any vehicles are connected to drug dealing, anti-social behaviour or any other offences, please do get in contact.”

Data and information collected by ANPR cameras is only used in the prevention and detection of crime and in some cases, to safeguard vulnerable adults.