Police arrest 19 and seize 100 vehicles in March with help of Northamptonshire's ANPR cameras

Almost one-third of vehicles ‘pinged’ by Northamptonshire ANPR cameras in March wound up being seized for any number of traffic offences.

Officers pulled over more than 300 sets of wheels spotted on the county’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition system during 31 days of March.

Of those, around 100 were taken off the road for anything from being uninsured to having links to suspected crime.

A total of 19 people were arrested on suspicion of offences including assault, robbery, burglary, theft, driving while disqualified, drug-driving and skipping bail.

Northamptonshire Police head of proactive crime and intelligence, Superintendent Lee McBride, said: “These results once again demonstrate the danger ANPR poses to those who look to use our roads illegally or to commit their crimes as we continue to take the fight back to the criminals.

“Our message is simple: If you want to use our roads to commit crime, it won’t be long before you see blue lights in your rear-view mirror, and you’ve booked a non-negotiable trip to our custody suite.”

ANPR cameras read passing registrations, checking them across several databases and raising alerts if a vehicle is ‘of interest’.

Data and information collected is used only in prevention and detection of crime and, in some cases, to safeguard vulnerable adults.

March’s month-long crackdown, codenamed Operation Opus, focused on uninsured vehicles but netted many more.

Northamptonshire’s ANPR network has more than doubled in recent years with just over 150 additional new cameras installed since 2020, increasing coverage across rural areas and major towns as well as on the county borders.

But officers still rely on old-fashioned ‘tip-offs’ from the public offering details of suspicious vehicles that they feel need looking out for.

Supt McBride added: “We collect intelligence on suspicious vehicles ourselves but we also ask the community to be our eyes on the ground and report anything out of place either to either ourselves or by contacting Crimestoppers.

“You can do this completely anonymously as we don’t need to know who you are, just what you know.

"If you think any vehicles are connected to drug dealing, anti-social behaviour or any other offences, please do get in contact.”