Licence plate scanning pilot project gets mixed reviews by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 35 | Thursday, September 29, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com There were mixed reviews for a Halton police pilot project -- involving software that scans licence plates and automatically recognizes certain violations -- during a recent Halton Regional Police Services Board meeting. Insp. Derek Davis of the Halton police Office of Continuous Improvement and Strategic Management updated the board on the Automatic Licence Plate Recognition System (ALPR). The technology involves cameras and software, installed in a police vehicle and used to automatically scan the licence plates of vehicles in the vicinity of the police vehicle. The system can operate whether the police vehicle is moving or parked. While Halton police have been experimenting with this technology since 2009, the January to May pilot project was different in that the system receives daily updates from the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) and the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). These updates contain information on stolen vehicles, vehicles belonging to wanted or missing persons, as well as those with expired plates, drivers whose licences are suspended and more. The ALPR scans for these violations and upon finding one, alerts the officer for further investigation. "Think of the ALPR as automated plate checking because that is essentially what it is. Normally, an officer drives down the street. They see a vehicle in front of them. They run that vehicle's plate manually to see if anything comes back," said Davis. "Now, where an officer could do a couple plates an hour, this system can run 500 plates an hour. It is an automated, proactive checking of passing licence plates." Davis said the ALPR is not evidence, but just an indicator the officer might want to pull that vehicle over and investigate to see if any kind of ticket or charge is warranted. The Halton pilot project involved the ALPR being installed in a single police vehicle. From January to May, the system scanned 110,273 licence plates, received 2,594 hits, which resulted in 689 tickets being issued. Davis said the top offences were expired plates, people driving with a suspended licence or no licence at all, and insurancerelated offences. He also said use of ALPR has great potential, noting Dundas Street, across Halton, is used by 22,00025,000 vehicles on an average day. If all those licence plates were scanned and the rate of offences is the same as what was observed during the pilot, it would result in 500 hits and 135 tickets per day. The system is limited in that it does not have a live connection with the MTO or CPIC. This means if a car is reported stolen after the daily download of information to the ALPR software, that stolen car will not trigger the system if its plate is scanned. Davis also emphasized the system does not retain information about a plate that was scanned in a particular area at a particular time unless there was a violation involved. "In the U.S., you will hear stories and privacy concerns with these systems... about them gobbling up licence plates and GPS information and storing it in a huge database," said Davis. "We do not keep that here in Halton and we definitely don't do that in Ontario. The only information we retain is the information that generates a hit." He also said the project is not about generating revenue for police by allowing them to hand out more tickets. Davis said when a ticket issued by the police is paid, those funds go to the Province and the municipality, not directly to the police service. "Here, our focus is road safety," said Davis. The cost of installing an ALPR system in a police vehicle is approximately $30,000. Oakville Mayor and Halton Regional Police Service Board Chair Rob Burton expressed doubts about the suitability of larger ALPR use in the region. He noted the bulk of the complaints made by residents concerning traffic, are those about speeding, aggressive driving and people running stop signs and red lights. "I'm not sure this is on-point with what our citizens are asking us to do," said Burton. "By putting people on this task, do we risk reducing the people we can apply to the traffic issues residents are most concerned about? This feels more like doing some work for the Province and only getting a little bit of the money back." Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner said catching speeders, aggressive drivers and others, who display dangerous driving behaviours, would always be the priority. Board member Gary Burkett argued the system does have merit. "I would offer that removing suspended drivers and drivers without a licence from our roads is a very tangible benefit for the community," he said. Tanner said a request for funds for additional ALPR units would appear in the Halton police budget for the board's consideration this fall. Are you open to your money doing better for you, and your community? We are and so is our new branch in North Oakville. We're not just about money, we are about your money doing better... So you get better rates, products and personal service. Talk to us first about a better way of banking. 2.00 2.20 2.30 %* %* Call us at 1-800-616-8878 or visit FirstOntario.com 1 YEAR TERM GIC 30 MONTH TERM GIC 4 YEAR TERM GIC %* Conditions apply. Rates are subject to change. *Rates apply to registered and non-registered products. Rates available at our Oakville branches only. Now open at 505 Dundas St W