Rego recognition car picks up licence alerts

Upper Great Southern police have been test-driving a new automatic number-plate-reading car, using it for the first time at a Popanyinning and Brookton operation last month.

Williams police Sergeant Stephen Stingemore said the car featured four cameras which recorded number plates of vehicles travelling past.

“It feeds into computer software which recognises and processes the plates and links them to our database,” he said.

“We can then see things like if the vehicles are unregistered, are of interest or if the drivers don’t have a licence.” According to Sgt Stingemore, the ANPR was the second of its kind in the Great Southern region, the other being in Albany.

“So far a few registration and licence alerts have come up and also alerts for vehicles which have been identified with drug-related offences, which we’ve searched,” he said.

Police canine dog named Dakota has been helping officers search the cars for drugs.