httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENGY1CD9y_4
The video above (from BC) demonstrates the new technology that Winnipeg Police Officers will be equiped with this coming year. The $48,000 device equips an unmarked Police vehicle with 2 front facing cameras and one side camera. The side cameras are for parked vehicles in parking lots and the front cameras are for vehicles on the road. The camera scans license plates as they drive by and checks the numbers against the Manitoba Red Flag Plates database. This database contains stolen vehicles, unregistered vehicles, or vehicles that belong to someone with an expired license. For smaller offenses, the system simply takes a photo of the vehicles and they are ticketed afterwards, for bigger offenses, such as a stolen vehicle, the officers are alerted via alarm by the system.
It is capable of capturing up to 3000 plates in a hour. This decision to implement this technology comes from the Winnipeg Auto Theft Suppression Strategy which will hopefully lead to us no longer being forced to install immobilizers on every single vehicle we own.
