This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
Listen
Smart cameras for Forth and Tay Bridges
20/01/2003
Smart cameras are to be installed on the Forth and Tay
bridges as part of Fife Police's anti-crime initiative, it
was announced today.
The Executive has made £110,000 available to cover the
cost of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)
technology on the bridges
ANPR has the potential to improve crime management,
increase detection rates and enhance criminal intelligence.
It comprises a smart camera, which takes an image of - and
recognises - the number plate of any vehicle passing at any
time. It then electronically compares this with information
on all vehicles stored on police central computers.
At the newly operational CCTV Control Room for Fife
Police at Glenrothes, Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace
said:
"The introduction of ANPR to the Forth and Tay bridges
is good news for Fife - an initiative that brings cutting
edge technology to bear on the fight against crime.
"The smart camera has enormous potential in improving
crime management, increasing detection rates and building
criminal intelligence. At the present time, around 3 per
cent of vehicles passing any ANPR camera will register a
hit.
"There are currently around three million vehicles of
interest to police in Scotland for a variety of reasons -
for example, cars which have been involved in crime and
cars whose owners have failed to register them.
"Because it is precise and targeted, ANPR means that the
police no longer require to undertake random roadside
checks - a benefit to the police and also the wider public.
And the successful results achieved to date testify to its
effectiveness.
"A recent example of a hit in Scotland was a Ford
Explorer stolen from Folkstone on November 25 last year,
which was triggered crossing the Kincardine Bridge
on November 27. Within one hour of the hit, two people were
taken into custody by Central Scotland Police.
"We recently announced that £2 million will be available
before the end of the current financial year to develop
current CCTV and introduce ANPR in Scotland, and I will
announce how this will be allocated in due course."
The Fife CCTV system, which monitors seven towns, is one
of the biggest of its kind in Europe. It received £250,000
from the Executive in 2001-02, towards the total cost of
£1,200,000 to install 78 cameras Fife-wide.
The Executive has allocated £10.3 million to over 160
CCTV projects across Scotland since 1996, bringing over
2,000 cameras on line.
An additional £2 million has been made available in the
current financial year for the upgrade and centralisation
of CCTV systems and for ANPR for crime intelligence
purposes. Applications from local councils are currently
being assessed and Ministers' decisions will be announced
in the near future.