Since the world has become a highly digitized place, some of the best technology to monitor the environment and ensure that nothing goes awry is a CCTV camera. CCTV or what can be also called as the closed circuit television is more or less a video surveillance. There are millions of CCTVs installed in almost all the public places from shopping malls to hospitals to even schools. The purpose of the CCTV is to record everything and use the tapes to build a timeline later if an incident takes place in an area.
While CCTV cameras have become a must to ensure safety of a residential or commercial property, sometimes lack of clarity of these cameras inhibit proper surveillance of the road. Public transportation and parking lots witnessed 51% lesser crimes but when it comes to recording a car with a speeding ticket or for which an APB has been put, CCTV cameras might not be the best option.
This is where ANPR or Automatic number plate recognition comes in picture. ANPR cameras have made the job of the police a lot easier, thanks to its advanced technology which helps tracking plat numbers. The technology of optical character recognition is used which is simple and can be easily installed in any road rule enforcement camera. The ANPR is heavily used by law enforcement agencies all around the world to ensure that the vehicles are licensed and not registered for a crime. This technology is also a great help on the toll booths or the roads which use the pay-per-use system.
ANPR cameras, also called LPR systems (laser plate recognition) are used to capture images of these number plates and store it for latter use. The government is heavily relied on these cameras as they get to track the movement of its citizens.
Both CCTV cameras and ANPR cameras are being used all around the world. The CCTV cameras are more generalized in its use as it keeps track of the passengers with the advanced ‘facial recognition technology’ which helps in comparing the records of these people with the database and then finding a fugitive or any other person.
However, ANPR cameras are considered better as they are helping read number plates and processing the time and location of each vehicle by the day. This account for every citizen’s vehicle and it can place them at a certain time of the day at a certain place.
Which one is better to fight crime?
When it comes to minimizing crimes on the road, then both have its own advantages. But, recently CCTV cameras have become incompetent in keeping criminals off the road. CCTV cameras are installed at almost every corner of the road but when it comes to pre-medicated crimes, people can easily find the blindspots of the CCTV camera and avoid being caught on it.
More often than not, the image quality of the pictures taken by the CCTV cameras is very poor and this makes them inadmissible as evidence in a court of law.
In another scenario, too many CCTV cameras will invade the privacy of the citizens and it hampers free speech and expression. All these reasons call for a better option of surveillance and here ANPR cameras come in the picture.
They are better equipped to recognize any dubious vehicle and put it off the street to ensure the safety of everyone. Since, ANPR don’t take images of a person’s vehicle, there are no privacy concerns and the police can easily track any black listed vehicle. ANPR has been a huge help in curbing crimes and with better technology, it will only improve in the coming years.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed your article and found it highly informative. Thanks for sharing.