Nothing to hide? So there's nothing to fear

A new national surveillance system is to be introduced to make Britain the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

The network will incorporate thousands of existing closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to provide coverage of all motorways, main roads, towns, cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts.

The images captured will be held on record for two years.

By March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store 35 million number-plate "reads" a day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites.

Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so that details of up to 100 million plates can be fed each day into the databank.

Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as possibly the biggest advance in crime detection technology since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting.

But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely recorded and kept for many years.

The new national data centre will form the basis of a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation designed to drive criminals off the road.

In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to gather intelligence on the movements and associations of organised gangs and terrorist suspects.

The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police Officers and has the backing of ministers, who have sanctioned the spending of 24m this year on equipment.

More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras to read number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon via a secure police communications network.

Police chiefs are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate their cameras into the network.

In addition to cross-checking each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid warrant of fitness.

"Every time you make a car journey, you'll be on CCTV, The difference is that the car's plates will be read as well," said Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley, chairman of the steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).

"What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn't at a particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime scenes.

Particularly important are associated vehicles," Whiteley said.

The term "associated vehicles" means analysing convoys to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is of interest to the police. Criminals often drive somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy to commit further crimes.

"You're not necessarily interested in the stolen vehicle. You're interested in what's moving with the stolen vehicle," Whiteley explained.

According to a strategy document drawn, the national data centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that should deny criminals the use of the roads.

"The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader infrastructure to stop displacement of crime from area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements," the strategy says.

"This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation opportunities on a national basis," it says.

Whiteley said MI5 would also use the database for counter-terrorism operations. "Clearly there are values for this in counter-terrorism," he said.

"The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."



Eyes in the sky

* The current ANPR network reads 35 million number plates a day.
* Expansion after March will improve capacity to log the time, date and whereabouts of up to 100 million plates a day.
* Normal CCTV cameras are to be upgraded to ANPR.
* Local authorities have signed agreements to join the scheme.
* Businesses - such as petrol stations and supermarkets - could soon sign an agreement.
* A pilot scheme found that police armed with ANPR saw a five-fold rise in their arrest rates.
* Just two ANPR cameras can cover north and south movements through the 27 lanes of the Dartford crossing toll area on the Thames.
* 24m ($70m) has been spent this year by police on upgrades.


- INDEPENDENT