Police cars going digital

 

POLICE are finally moving with the times and going digital with the installation of GPS, GPRS, GIS and ANPR cameras in all patrol cars.

According to police Superintendant Loizos Prastitis, the new technology will allow the end user full viewing and tracking access to all patrol cars installed with the hardware. The ANPR cameras feature digital optical character recognition cameras so officers can easily locate skewed or partial number.

Prastitis said: “The point of the system is to be able to monitor and coordinate the patrol cars in real time. By using GPS, GPRS and GIS, we will be able to view the speed of our cars, their travelling history and be able to digitally analyse routes based on a multitude of information we receive from the cars.”

Prastitis went on to say: “In 2011 we will have the capabilities to fit up to 1,000 cars. The refresh rate of our computers, cameras and device will not go over three seconds, so everything will be viewed in real time.” Prastitis said the digital maps will accurately display patrol cars within a 10-metre radius, “and you will also see an imprint of the patrol cars route (live snail-trail).”

In full the select patrol cars will feature Global Positioning System (GPS), which is a space-based navigation system; Geographic Information System (GIS) which can be used for capturing, managing, analysing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information and ANPR cameras. Policemen will also be issued with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to allow them to take part in video conferences and give them the ability modify multimedia data using mobile hand held devices.

Prastitis however seemed particularly impressed with the pending introduction of the automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPR), which are basically surveillance cameras that use optical character recognition to read licence plates on vehicles.

Explaining how the ANPR system works Prastitis said: “There will be two cameras in the vehicle, an ANPR in the back, with a Pan & Tilt motor, so you can adjust it by remote control to capture images; and one high resolution CCD camera in the front, to recording anything that is happening in front of the police vehicle.”

Prastitis also mentioned that the cameras can be viewed in real time with sound at the Police Headquarters. End users at the headquarters will have radio capabilities so there can be direct contact with the patrol car.

 

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