Automated License Plate Recognition 1

Automated License Plate Recognition Technology in Law Enforcement

Anthony Abdalla

South Pasadena Police Department

Tony Abdalla is a police sergeant with the South Pasadena Police Department in Southern California. In his

twentieth year with the department, he has researched, implemented, and managed numerous technology projects

for his agency. This paper was prepared as part of his continuing education at Union Institute and University. He can

be reached at tabdalla@ci.south-pasadena.ca.us.
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Automated License Plate Recognition Technology in Law Enforcement

Introduction

Technology enhancements in the law enforcement field have greatly impacted the way

law enforcement agencies do business. From handheld fingerprint readers to computer forensic

software to digital in-car video systems, technology advances continue to revolutionize and

automate many core legacy processes in the field of law enforcement. At a patrol level, there is

no law enforcement process more fundamental than that of police officers checking license

plates for wants and/or warrants. Advanced technology is now in place to greatly assist officers

with the license plate checking process that is truly global in its use.

Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology (also known as Automatic

Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology in the United Kingdom) automates a core law

enforcement process that traditionally has been left between police officers in the field and police

dispatchers in a communications center. Officers no longer need to communicate a license plate

via police radios to dispatchers, or typed into their mobile data terminals, in order for the plate to

be checked against various criminal databases. The proven license plate recognition technology

exists to automate the license plate checking process and thereby increase the efficiency and

accuracy of law enforcement agencies worldwide.

New technologies employed by law enforcement occasionally stir public debate based

upon the nature and function of the technology. ALPR technology is not unique in this respect

and has created controversy among privacy rights advocates surrounding the collection, use, and

retention of the data that the systems capture. A lack of consistency among law enforcement

agencies in the management of this data contributes to the controversy. As the technology
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matures and the use increases, it’s reasonable to assume that these issues will be resolved on a

national, if not global level.

History

In 1992, ALPR technology was developed at Cambridge University in the United

Kingdom in response to terrorism (Gaumont & Babineau, 2008). On April 10, 1992, the Irish

Republican Army bombed the Baltic Exchange, a British company operating a premier global

marketplace for shipbrokers and charterers, partially destroying the façade of the Exchange’s

offices and extensively damaging the rest of the building (Baltic exchange, 2008). Almost a year

later on April 24, 1993, the Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb at Bishopsgate, the

heart of London’s financial district (1993 Bishopsgate bombing, 2008). The bombing was

massive in size and destroyed several buildings with many others suffering shattered windows.

The blast caused approximately £1 billion in damage, killed one person, and injured 44 others.

In response to both bombings and as a deterrent to further attacks from Ireland, the U.K.

government erected what is commonly referred to as the “ring of steel” surrounding the City of

London (Ring of steel, 2008). The ring of steel consists of physical barriers, checkpoints, and

surveillance cameras that direct drivers into chicanes, forcing them to slow down and be

recorded by closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) (Ring of steel). By 1996, ANPR

technology was fully implemented into every western U.K. port to read every license plate

entering the country from Ireland (Gaumont & Babineau).

The United Kingdom continues to be the leader in the implementation and use of ANPR

technology. The U.K now has a mature network of CCTV cameras utilizing ANPR technology.

Since March 2006, most roadways, town centers, ports, gas stations and London’s congestion

charge zone have been covered by CCTV cameras running ANPR software. Existing cameras in
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towns and cities are being converted to read license plates as part of their new national

surveillance network (Police-enforced ANPR in the UK, 2008). All data from the CCTV

network is fed to the National ANPR Data Centre in Hendon, north of London, and the site of the

existing Police National Computer (Police-enforced ANPR in the UK). The National ANPR

Data Centre is the repository for all ANPR data uploaded to it from the 43 police forces in

England and Wales (Mathieson, 2007).

How does ALPR technology work?

ALPR technology can be thought of as a system of hardware and software components

that when used collectively, read images from license plates utilizing optical character

recognition (OCR). These scanned images are then typically used to search a license plate

against various law enforcement databases for possible involvement in criminal activity and then

stored in an ALPR database for data mining purposes at a later time.

First in the ALPR lifecycle is a license plate image captured from either a fixed mounted

or mobile camera. PIPS Technology, a Federal Signal Company, is an industry leader in the

development and manufacture of ALPR technology systems in the United States. Cameras from

PIPS Technology capture color and infrared images of both the vehicle and license plate.

Firmware continually searches the camera’s field of view for the presence of a license plate and

once one is detected, the dual lens camera is triggered to capture both images of the vehicle and

license plate. Infrared images are especially useful because they are able to see the license plates

regardless of sun glare, darkness, or other adverse conditions. During the image capture process,

sophisticated technology is utilized to vary the flash, shutter and gain settings of the camera to

capture multiple plate images and ensure the highest quality photo regardless of light or weather

conditions (PIPS Technology, n.d.).

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After the image is captured, it is processed utilizing optical character recognition

technology. The OCR technology extracts the alphanumeric characters of the license plate. The

capture capability of the ALPR technology has greatly improved and now has the functionality to

allow captures from oncoming vehicles at freeway speeds. Effectively, this allows routine

license plate captures at closing speeds in excess of 160 mph.

On mobile ALPR systems installed in law enforcement vehicles, careful consideration is

given to the camera placements for optimal results. In a typical installation, one or more cameras

are placed in a forward looking configuration in order to capture license plates either

approaching or traveling in the same direction across multiple lanes. Cameras are also

commonly placed perpendicular to the vehicle to capture vehicles in parking stalls. Most

technologically advanced ALPR systems are flexible and can accommodate camera

configurations ranging from one to four cameras.

In addition to the OCR component of the ALPR software, there are other issues that

affect the camera’s ability to read license plates. Algorithms compensate for a varying array of

variables that can affect the ALPR’s ability to produce an accurate read, such as time of day,

weather, and angles between the camera and license plate (Automatic number plate recognition,

2008). Five additional primary algorithms that aid in license plate recognition accuracy include

(Automatic number plate recognition):

1. Plate localization – Responsible for finding and isolating the license plate within

the camera’s field of view,

2. Plate orientation and sizing – compensates for the skew of the plate and adjusts

the dimensions to the necessary side,

3. Normalization – adjusts for brightness and contrast of the image,

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4. Character segmentation – finds the individual characters of the plate and,

5. Syntactical/Geometerical analysis – checks characters and positions against

country/state specific rules

The complexity of these areas of the ALPR application determines the accuracy of the

system.

No ALPR system to date has proven to be 100 percent accurate. There are various

challenges that ALPR systems face that the software must deal with. Some of these challenges

include (Automatic number plate recognition, 2008):

! Poor image resolution

! Blurry images

! Poor lighting and low contrast due to overexposure, reflection and/or shadows

! An object partially obscuring the plate such as a tow bar or dirt

! Different fonts that are popular for vanity plates (although some countries prohibit

them and thereby effectively eliminating the problem)

! Circumvention techniques (Obscuring the license plate to prevent or create false

reads)

! Lack of coordination between countries or states (two cars from different

countries or states can have the same license plate numbers, but with different

design elements)

Some of the above issues can be addressed and corrected within the ALPR software itself

while others such as license plate obscurement can be corrected on the hardware side by

adjusting camera placement.

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Use Applications

The main focus of ALPR technology, especially in the United States, is to run the

captured license plate image against a stolen vehicle database to inquire if the vehicle is a

reported stolen. That is the ALPR’s strength in light of the fact that the technology is capable of

running 3000 license plates per hour. Contrast that with how many license plates can be run

manually by a police officer per hour, the benefits of volume, speed, and accuracy become

readily apparent. However as the technology matures, more and more law enforcement agencies

are innovating and finding creative ways to use the technology.

ALPR systems are capable of searching more than one database with the captured license

plates. Local police agencies commonly configure their systems to search stolen vehicle, wanted

persons, missing persons, and/or user definable databases. On an international level, the Royal

Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in British Columbia, Canada, configured trial ALPR systems

to check the following information in a database known as a “hotlist” during a 21 day use study

and evaluation of the technology in October of 2006 (Gaumont & Babineau, 2008):

! Stolen license plates

! Plates associated with stolen vehicles

! Plates associated with prohibited drivers

! Plates associated with unlicensed drivers

! Plates associated with uninsured vehicles

Some local agencies have gone a step further and equipped their parking control vehicles

with the ALPR technology to search for vehicles with five or more unpaid parking violations.

These vehicles are eligible to be towed under California law and the proceeds from this targeted

enforcement quickly cover the initial $25,000 investment in the technology.

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A significant use of the ALPR technology is to mine the data that is collected by the

systems as an investigative aid. ALPR systems from PIPS Technology date and time stamp each

vehicle captured along with collecting the GPS coordinates of the location where it was read.

The data is then uploaded to a central database server where it can be searched by various criteria

at a later time. In cases where a crime occurs within a city that has ALPR technology, police

officers can search their ALPR database to see if, when, and where the associated vehicle has

been in their city on a prior occasion. An added regional benefit of PIPS ALPR systems is that

each respective law enforcement agency’s PIPS ALPR database can be shared and searched

across multiple agencies. The United States Department of Homeland Security is presently

providing grant funding to law enforcement agencies for the purchase of ALPR technology with

PIPS Technology as the sole source vendor.

Effectiveness

The RCMP in British Columbia was the first Canadian police agency to evaluate the

feasibility of ALPR technology for traffic and criminal enforcement. Four unmarked police

vehicles were equipped with mobile ALPR systems and deployed to various operational

locations throughout the City of Surrey, known as the auto theft capital of the world (Gaumont &

Babineau, 2008). The vehicles were deployed seven days a week for the 21 day trial period for

approximately 22 hours per day. During the trial period, a total of 177,985 plates were read by

the four vehicles which averaged out to 149 vehicles per hour (Gaumont & Babineau, 2008).

The number of vehicles read is well under the 3000 per hour capability of the ALPR technology

and was attributed to the road design in Surrey.

Of the 177,985 plates read during the trial period, 3,873 were hits (Gaumont & Babineau,

2008). The average hit rate was one hit for every 67.9 plates read during the day shift and 65.6
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plates during the night shift (Gaumont & Babineau). Further analysis of the hit data revealed

that 70 percent of the hits were for unlicensed drivers, about 20 percent for uninsured vehicles,

about 8 percent for prohibited drivers, and less than 1 percent for stolen vehicles.

The final assessment of the ALPR technology revealed benefits in increased performance

and efficiency with the technology. With the potential to read up to 3,000 plates per hour,

improved officer productivity is virtually a given. The study also revealed that since the

technology targets only desired criteria that appear in the database, lawabiding citizens were not

targeted or impacted in any way (Gaumont & Babineau, 2008). Lastly, the study revealed

benefits from increased crime detection. Due to the substantially larger number of vehicles

being pulled over as a result of the ALPR technology, officers more frequently come into contact

with criminals and therefore generate more arrests. Arrests during the ALPR related stops were

primarily for vehicle crimes, robbery, theft, burglary, and drug offenses (Gaumont & Babineau).

Implications

The main controversy as a result of law enforcement agencies implementing ALPR

systems has come from privacy rights advocates surrounding the collection and retention of data.

A lack of standardization of the retention of the data, especially among United States law

enforcement agencies, contributes to the issue. For example, the National ANPR Data Centre in

the United Kingdom stores national ANPR related data for a period of 5 years (Police-enforced

ANPR in the UK, 2008). The U.K. police argue that data allows them to link criminals with

vehicles. The RMCP stores hit data for two years and non-hits for 90 days in accordance with

Canada’s Privacy Act (Gaumont & Babineau, 2008). In the United States, there is no standard

for ALPR data retention and is therefore left up to each individual law enforcement agency to

determine their respective policies.

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Civil liberties questions surround the issue of the collection of data in the United States.

In Portland, Oregon, where ALPR technology is being used, the associate director of the Oregon

chapter of the American Civil Liberties union, Jan Carson, has concerns over its use. “If the

collection of data was specifically tailored to the investigation of a crime, I don’t think we would

have any problem with that,” Carson said. “But simply collecting information on where and

when people are located, I think is a real invasion of privacy.” (Redden, 2008, ¶ 12) The

question really becomes whether or not the collection of the data violates the United States

Constitution’s 4th Amendment which guarantees individuals the right to be free from

unreasonable searches and seizures. On its face, it appears to be no constitutional violation of

the fourth amendment as there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a publicly visible

license plate. The United States Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has twice ruled that, “because

they are in plain view, no privacy interest exists in license plates.” (Hubbard, in press)

Conclusion

Automated license plate recognition technology is an exciting and evolving technology

that promises to assist law enforcement agencies achieve their mission of denying criminals use

of our roadways for years to come. As with any technology of this nature, it is incumbent upon

law enforcement professionals to put in the necessary safeguards that will instill public

confidence that the data and subsequent information is being used appropriately.
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Photo credit: PIPS Technology

Photo depicts a collage of Automated License Plate Recognition mobile

technology hardware including lightbar mounted cameras and mobile data

terminal.
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References

1993 Bishopsgate bombing. (2008). Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishopsgate_bombing

Automatic number plate recognition. (2008). Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Number_Plate_Recognition

Baltic exchange. (2008). Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Exchange

Gaumont, N., & Babineau, D. (2008). The role of automatic license plate recognition technology

in policing: Results from the lower mainland of British Columbia. The Police Chief,

LXXV(11). Retrieved from

http://policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display&article_id=1671

&issue_id=112008

Hubbard, T. E. (in press). Automatic license plate recognition: An exciting new law enforcement

tool with potentially scary consequences. Syracuse Science and Technology Law

Reporter. Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://sstlr.syr.edu/wp-

content/uploads/automatic-license-plate-recognition_an-exciting-new-law-enforcement-

tool-with-potentially-scary-consequences.pdf

Mathieson, S. A. (2007, February 15). Inside IT: Worried about being watched? You already are.

guardian.co.uk. Retrieved from

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/feb/15/epublic.guardianweeklytechnologyse

ction#history-byline
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PIPS Technology (n.d.). About ALPR. Retrieved November 30, 2008, from

http://www.pipstechnology.com/alpr/

Police-enforced ANPR in the UK. (2008). Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police-enforced_ANPR_in_the_UK

Redden, J. (2008, October 9). We all could be tracked. Portland Tribune. Retrieved from

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=122350294579016400

Ring of steel. (2008). Retrieved November 30, 2008, from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_of_steel