basingwerk wrote:
malcolmw wrote:
The people who broke into the van probably DID get their by car. Just not their car (or one with false plates etc.) rendering them impossible to trace.
ANPR provides the trace as well. With ANPR based database systems, copied plates are easily recognisable by spatial/temporal techniques, i.e. if the same plate crops up in different places at implausible times, one of them is fake. And as you have a traceback to the origin of both cars, as well as tracking of their current journey in real time, finding them is as easy as pie.
Furthermore, if any unexpected plate crops up near the scene (i.e. one not registered, or off the road, or has not tax or MOT or insurance etc. etc.), a trend can be built up quickly on that and the car can be pulled over by the next available patrol. All of that is easy once the infrastructure is in place – that’s why they want to put it in.
I recognise this pattern as an arms race where the losers are:
a) The people who pay for the arms (capital and running)
b) The people who are incorrectly identified by the system (misreads, database errors, circumstantial coincidence)
c) Stupid petty criminals who fail to adapt to the new environment
d) Those of us who value privacy
e) Those of us who suffer through opportunity cost (poor police response to burglary for example, because they are too busy playing with their toys)
I can also think of LOADS of ways in which the system can be defeated or circumvented, ALL of which will become commonplace - to the point of making the system worse than useless.
For example, we have 3 million vehicles that have no known registered keeper because they are 'in the trade'. What's the betting that there'll be an extra million on that list within 2 years?