KOCHI: Getting away with a stolen car or a vehicle involved in a crime is not going to be easy anymore as the state police plan to deploy mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) units on highways to keep a tab on suspicious vehicles. Like a barcode scanner, it can scan the number plate and instantly spew out the car's details.
The mobile APNR units will also be able to flag a vehicle if it has any criminal records by mining details from the criminal database.
Traffic IG Manoj Abraham told ‘Express’ that the vehicles fitted with ANPR will be a major support to the police in identifying vehicles involved in crimes and accidents.
The database of stolen vehicles will be linked to the software controlling the cameras in the mobile APNR units, which will alert the officers once a vehicle with that particular registration number is spotted.
“We already have fixed ANPRs along the highways. But ANPRs on vehicles will be an added advantage,” said Abraham.
The police have already come out with a tender for 25 mobile ANPRs, which should have the option to take inputs of licence plates according to hotlisted categories such as ‘wanted’, ‘suspicious’, ‘stolen’, etc.
On successful recognition of the number plate, the device should be able to generate an instantaneous alert. As per the details, the device should be able to store the licence numbers of at least 10,000 suspected vehicles at a time.
The system will also alert the officers if there is a mismatch in the number plate and details of the vehicle. According to the officers, the device will help the police to identify vehicles even if the number plates are altered.
The police have been keeping an eye on vehicle lifters ever since they busted an interstate hi-tech vehicle-lifting gang, which stole 22 cars from the state in 2017.