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Improving city security with ALPR

Published Date

Why ALPR Parking Data Is an Untapped Gold Mine for Law Enforcement   

For well over a decade now, both law enforcement and parking enforcement departments in many cities around the world have been investing in automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) technology. While these are two distinct ALPR applications, the benefits of task automation, increased efficiency, and improved enforcement, regardless whether it's concerning criminal apprehension or parking regulations, are notable. Yet, as one of the few ALPR solution providers that cater to both law enforcement and parking enforcement applications, we see a real opportunity for greater collaboration between these agencies. 

Joining Forces for Better City Security Using ALPR 

ALPR Data

Mobile ALPR units on parking enforcement vehicles can collect the same amount, and in some cases, more license plate reads than mobile law enforcement ALPR units. For law enforcement investigators, collected ALPR reads from city parking enforcement systems could be an untapped data gold mine. If law enforcement officers could access ALPR data from parking enforcement when investigating suspects associated to vehicle tags, more leads would be generated and cases could be closed faster. 

We're excited to tell you that's possible. Standardizing on video surveillance systems within a city is already quite common. Our FederationTM feature has been designed to facilitate sharing of video and data across multiple entities. In version 5.3 of Security Center, the feature now supports ALPR devices. 

Finally, city entities can join forces to enhance urban security, all by leveraging existing ALPR investments. Law enforcement agencies can also work with schools, airports, hospitals, and private organizations such as major retailers to tap into even more ALPR data. New multi-region read and hit reports can also generate vehicles located within up to three user-defined regions of interest, helping to speed up investigations. 

Standardizing on AutoVuTM ALPR within a City  

Standardizing on AutoVuTM ALPR is an easy way to make this happen. It's the only solution on the market that caters to multiple applications and their unique needs, while being engineered with the same back-end infrastructure and enabling sharing features such as FederationTM. 

More benefits for ALPR standardization within a city? 

  • Law enforcement can get access to data from multiple ALPR systems to check for wanted vehicles without having to leave their desks, and can navigate the familiar system interface with ease.
  • IT resources are maximized as teams only have to learn, support and maintain one ALPR system. This helps to reduce support complexities and minimize associated time and costs.
  •  IT resources can also be shared amongst many entities in the city who choose to standardize on ALPR, spreading maintenance and support costs across budgets. 

Interested in hearing more about the latest AutoVuTM automatic license plate recognition enhancements? Visit our new parking and law enforcement web pages.