Police spend £54k on crime cameras (From York Press)

North Yorkshire Police spend £54k on crime cameras

8:40am Thursday 20th September 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, Crime reporter

POLICE in North Yorkshire are set to spend more than £54,000 on boosting a network of cameras aimed at catching travelling criminals using the region’s road network.

A mobile Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) unit – used to track vehicles which have been used for crime – has led to North Yorkshire Police making 21 arrests and seizing 155 vehicles between April and June this year.

The force has now asked for an extra £54,300 from North Yorkshire Police Authority budgets to buy ten more moveable “spike” cameras, which can detect licence plates and trace cross-border criminals who have travelled into the region from elsewhere and can also be moved around various crime hotspots.

A report which will go before a full meeting of the authority next week said the devices had already proved to be a “valuable tool” in fighting crime, leading to a review being staged of whether more cameras should be introduced. The organisation has been asked to approve the expenditure.

In a rundown of the force’s performance during the first three months of 2012/13, Assistant Chief Constable Iain Spittal said: “The use of ANPR continues to be a major tool in the policing of the roads.

“There have been a number of operations run around fixed-site locations, and these have been supported by the spike cameras, which can be transferred to different sites depending on intelligence or demand.”

He said the existing mobile ANPR unit had seen “significant” success between April and June, with a further 389 people being reported for summons due to its operation. The bid for the funding for more cameras said they would provide more “flexibility”.

Earlier this year, North Yorkshire Police revealed a third of all crimes in their area are being committed by travelling criminals , and the figure could be higher as some offences by cross-border criminals may have previously gone undetected. It came as they launched Operation Vanguard, a three-month campaign focusing on major routes such as the A1, A19 and A64 and using ANPR to spot vehicles either known or believed to be used for crime.