HC Deb 27 May 2004 vol 421 cc1767-8W
Chris Ruane

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the 10 prosecutions that have resulted from automatic number plate recognition technology that have led to the highest value of drug seizures; [175244]

(2) how many and what types of prosecution have resulted from cars being stopped by automatic number plate recognition cameras in North Wales since their introduction; [175245]

(3) how many prosecutions have led to prison sentences as a result of the use of automatic number plate recognition technology; [175246]

(4) how many cars were stopped by automatic number plate recognition technology in each police authority area since their introduction. [175247]

Ms Blears

Data listing the 10 prosecutions that resulted from vehicles being stopped by Automatic Name Plate Recognition (ANPR) dedicated police intercept teams that led to the highest value of drug seizures are not held centrally. However, between 1 June 2003 and 16 May 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, the following number of arrests carried out by the 23 police forces involved in ANPR Project Laser Two for drug-related offences, were as follows:

ANPR drug-related arrests
Number of arrests 1,082
Number of occasions 686
Value of drugs recovered (£) 432,124.00

The table gives a breakdown of the number and type of arrest made as a result of vehicles being stopped by the North Wales police ANPR intercept teams between 1 June 2003 and 16 May 2004:

Arrest breakdown
Number
Robbery 2
Theft/burglary 75
Driving 249
Drugs 182
S25 112
Auto Crime 51
Warrant 53
Other 57

Details of how many prosecutions led to prison sentences as a result of ANPR are not held centrally.

Data on the number of vehicles stopped by ANPR in each police authority area since its introduction are not held centrally. The number of vehicles stopped in each of the 23 ANPR Project Laser Two police forces between 1 June 2003 and 16 May 2004, the latest date for which figures are available, were as follows:

Number
Avon and Somerset 5,692
Cambridgeshire 7,818
City of London 4,871
Cleveland 2,317
Greater Manchester police 14,612
Hampshire 5,767
Hertfordshire 4,911
Kent 9,896
Lancashire 10,596
Leicestershire 9,233
Lincolnshire 10,303
Merseyside 6,431
Metropolitan 17,435
Northamptonshire 6,688
Northumbria 3,731
North Wales 10,227
North Yorkshire 4,214
Nottinghamshire 2,532
Staffordshire 5,078
Warwickshire 4,503
West Midlands 7,247
West Yorkshire 8,322