Automatic number-plate recognition in the United Kingdom

The Home Office states ANPR is used by law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality including tackling organised crime groups and terrorists.

[5] In 2005, the Independent reported that by the following year, the majority of roads, urban cetres, London's congestion charge zone,[6] ports and petrol station forecourts will have been covered by CCTV camera networks using automatic number plate recognition.

[10] Giving every police officer open access would be taxing on the software, "[making] it unstable, slow it down", according to John Dean, a National ANPR co-ordinator.

In 2012, the government enacted the Protection of Freedoms Act which includes several provisions related to controlling and restricting the collection, storage, retention, and use of information about individuals.

Under this Act, the Home Office published a code of practice in 2013 for the use of surveillance cameras, including ANPR, by government and law enforcement agencies.

The CCTV network was linked into an ANPR system and was able to identify the getaway car and track its movements, leading to the arrest of six suspects.

[16] At its launch in May, Ch Supt Geoff Dodd of West Yorkshire Police, called the ANPR system a "revolutionary tool in detecting crime".

[17] In March 2005, plans were announced to set up a nationwide system of over 2,000 automatic number plate recognition cameras in the United Kingdom.

The DVLA is also involved with Project Laser, using the system to gather details on unregistered and unlicensed vehicles and those without a valid MOT certificate or insurance cover.

— Bedfordshire Police The project was seen as a success despite a Home Office report showing that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) trial had an error rate of up to 40%, with claims that the system was contributing "…in excess of 100 arrests per officer per year – ten times the national average…"[18]Further findings went on to show that the error rate dropped to 5% when infrared systems and more regular updates of information were used.

The final conclusion was that less than 10% of the expenditure incurred was recouped, with the Home Office claiming that the failure of drivers to pay fines contributed to this low figure, and continued to recommend the system be deployed throughout the UK.

[19] There have been stories in the national press suggesting that the use of the network could be extended to catch drivers using mobile phones illegally, and those failing to wear seat belts,[20] although the current system only retains text-strings consisting of number, date, & time.

Its implementation was frozen in June 2010 amid allegations that the police deliberately misled councillors about its purpose, after it was revealed that it was being funded as an anti-terrorism initiative, rather than for 'reassurance and crime prevention'.

[21][22] Speaking on 14 September 2008, Simon Davies, the director of Privacy International stated that the database would give police "extraordinary powers of surveillance" and claimed that "this would never be allowed in any other democratic country".

Catt commented "That our participation in peaceful protest outside an arms factory led to our arbitrary stop-check for terrorist activities many miles away by another force is a very disturbing development of the 'police state'.