Appian Technology Plc, provider of automatic number plate recognition systems (ANPR) and traffic management solutions, reports that a pilot scheme by Devon police using its ANPR technology, has led to the arrest of 16 people in Torquay.
The trials demonstrate the effectiveness of Talon, the ANPR system, it is claimed. Using neural network technology, the Talon system reads the number plates of vehicles entering towns and cities on major routes and cross references number plates against a database. The system can then identify in real time, suspicious vehicles of interest to the police. This includes stolen vehicles or those with information linking them to a crime. The system can check thousands of plates every hour, even when vehicles are being driven at more than 100mph, the makers claim.
In Torquay, cameras which scan number plates were mounted on Torbay CCTV cameras. These were linked to a database of more than 8.5m records from the DVLA, the Police National Computer and local intelligence computer systems. During this short trial there were 16 arrests by police, including a suspected paedophile, drugs users and the driver of a stolen vehicle.
What they say
Appian Chairman Pat Ryan said: “We are extremely pleased with the feedback we are receiving as a result of these trials. We are gaining a strong reputation for delivering effective solutions with high levels of accuracy and as a result are receiving growing interest in our technology. We have a number of on-going town and city centre CCTV trials which will be converted into contracts in the near future.” These trials are part of a number of similar programmes demonstrating Appian technology to a number of police forces both in the UK and internationally.
