Plate readers will make roads safer: RCMP

Police in Saskatchewanare showing off some cars newly equipped with automatic licence plate readers and arguing the devices will make the roads safer.

Hundreds of plates are already checked in the province manually every week, but by automating the process, more checks can be made for things like unlicensed vehicles or disqualified drivers, police say.

In Regina on Wednesday, the RCMP was demonstrating its automatic licence plate recognition system.

Officers showed how video cameras snap the pictures and special software reads the plate numbers. The numbers are then fed into police databases to see if, for example, a car is stolen.

Crown-owned Saskatchewan Government Insurance spent $50,000 to allow the RCMP to outfit two of its vehicles with the equipment.

As well, SGI has given money to all major municipal police services in the province for the same gadgetry.

RCMP Insp. Andy Landers said video cameras mounted on the cars will help make Saskatchewan highways safer.

The amount of plates that can be scanned in an hour would take about 900 hours the old fashioned way, he said.

"We're all about identifying those people on the highway that are creating greater risks for say, other motorists," he said. "This is going to allow us to identify that group of people much more easily."

The RCMP says it won't know the impact of using the cameras for a few months. Some city police forcesare already using this technology, including Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.