Subj : Number plate images used by police for 'any number of purposes'
To   : All
From : News
Date : Mon May 20 2024 12:55 pm

Police say the images they get of car number plates from thousands of cameras
can be used "for any number of purposes".


The extensive use of automated number plate recognition (ANPR) by police last
year sparked a legal challenge which is ongoing.


Officers tap into either of two privately-owned ANPR systems several hundred
times a day, documents have shown.


"The images can be used for any number of purposes and an extensive list does
not exist and so cannot be provided," technology assurance chief adviser Dr
Andrew Chen said in response to an RNZ Official Information Act request.


"Your request for a list of the 'full potential range of uses' and 'actual
range of uses' is therefore refused."


Police mostly used the AI-driven tech to corroborate existing evidence, place
vehicles at times and locations for an investigation, and as supporting
evidence in criminal cases, Chen said.


A police technologies list described it as a "retail crime intelligence
platform".


Chen said the image captured could be less important than the signal there
was CCTV footage of a crime at a certain spot, say, petrol theft.


Plate numbers were captured by live CCTV, and officers - many thousands of
whom have authorised access to the systems run by Auror and SaferCities -
could access the video and a still image.


"If the camera is in an area where vehicles are stationary (eg, petrol
station forecourt) then a still image often includes occupants in and around
the vehicle," he said.


"This is less often the case with moving vehicles due to the higher angle of
the capturing camera."


Police were forced to audit their use of ANPR - and found very isolated cases
of misuse - and introduced better training, two years ago.


Their ANPR policy asserts that an officer should consider getting a
production order - similar to a search warrant - if they want to use the
private systems "on numerous occasions to predict where a vehicle is likely
to be".


It contains a caution to an officer trying to locate a vehicle in real time,
that "this is likely to constitute tracking activity" and must go through a
special approvals process. This limits tracking to when there is a risk to
life of safety, or police have a tracking warrant, or other authorisation for
tracking.


Chen was previously an independent researcher who police used to critique
their surveillance and biometric systems, and advances in emerging tech.


rnz.co.nz

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