The ELSAG Mobile Plate Hunter Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology allows for the instantaneous reading of number plates and the comparison of each to databases of suspect number plates (hotlists) or of authorized number plates (whitelists).
The system is comprised of mobile ELSAG M6™ digital cameras mounted to the trunks or roofs of police vehicles, a processor housed in the trunk, and a user interface for the in-car laptop and command centre.
The digital cameras take photos of number plates on vehicles passing or being passed, day and night, in any weather. Instantaneously, the photographic number plate is converted into a string of alpha-numerical characters which are compared to hot lists to identify suspect vehicles (a stolen vehicle, for example), or compared to a white lists to verify a specific number plate has permission to be in a certain area (a permitted parking area, for example).
When looking for suspect vehicles, if the ELSAG mobile ANPR system reads a plate number included on a hot list, alarms are broadcast in real time to nearby police officers, through the user interface on their in-car laptop, and to a command centre. Alarm information includes an audible statement as to the nature of the offence associated with the number plate, photos of the number plate and the surrounding area on the vehicle, GPS coordinates of the read and date and time stamps of the number plate reading. Officers can interdict immediately. Additionally, ANPR data collected for every read (not just ones that alarm), can be stored in the ELSAG Enterprise Operations Center data management server for analysis at any time, to aid investigations.
When using whitelists, if the ELSAG mobile ANPR system reads a plate which is not included in the database, the system will broadcast alarms in the same manner as when using hot list databases.
Also available as a fixed system with cameras mounted to structures such as gates, poles and gantries, ELSAG ANPR technology is a force multiplier that substantially increases the efficiency of reading and processing plates, and locating suspect vehicles. Law enforcement agencies around the globe deploy it for best practices such as the recovery of stolen vehicles and number plates, identification of unlicensed drivers, the collection of delinquent taxes/fines, aiding of homeland security, assisting of Amber and Silver alerts, and much more.
