A lightning-fast piece of technology is helping police bust car crime across Basildon.
The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) machine can tell officers if the car heading towards them has been stolen, been seen at a hit-and-run or noticed at the scene of a crime.
A number of people have been arrested, cars returned to owners and in a spin-off, a number of stolen goods have also been found, along with drug and drink drivers caught.
Acting Sgt Paul Ford, of Basildon central section, said: "The ANPR is an amazing piece of equipment. You set the machine up and in a second you have the car's history. If the car is on our computer, we'll know about it before the car can get away.
"We are looking at putting it into large scale use across the division to reduce the number of car thefts. We intend to use the ANPR on operations across the district."
Published Monday, March 4, 2002
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