NEWS RELEASE
YORK REGIONAL POLICE
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The York Regional Police Road Safety Bureau will be using automated licence plate readers mounted on police vehicles in an effort to improve road safety.
Drivers within York Region will soon be seeing some York Regional Police cruisers with cameras mounted on the rooftops. The automated licence plate reader system uses three cameras to automatically read licence plates on vehicles while the officer is on patrol. The system can read 3,000 to 5,000 licence plates in a 12-hour shift and provides the officer with an alert for infractions such as stolen licence plates, a driver’s licence suspension, expired validation or failure to have insurance. The officer will confirm the information obtained from the automatic reader once a traffic stop is conducted. York Regional Police joins many other police services in Ontario and throughout Canada currently using this technology.
“This technology will allow officers to process information on far more licence plates than manually entering information. It will also help to identify more vehicles that may be operating in violation of the Highway Traffic Act,” said Inspector Ed Villamere with the York Regional Police Road Safety Bureau.
York Regional Police’s automated licence plate reader program has been established in accordance with the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s 2017 Guidance on the use of the systems. Any personal information collected by York Regional Police by way of the automated licence plate readers is done for the purposes of roadside-related law enforcement and accordance with section 29 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection and Privacy Act. Questions about this collection may be directed to York Regional Police Freedom of Information Unit at 1-866-876-5423 ext. 6740.
York Regional Police continues to encourage citizens to do their part to ensure our roads are safe. If you observe instances of speeding, unsafe lane changes, tailgating, weaving in and out of traffic, or disobeying traffic lights and stop signs, or other unsafe driving please consider making an online report through our Road Watch program here.
If you see an impaired driver or a dangerous driving situation in progress, or any driving behaviour which you believe constitutes an immediate risk to public safety, please call 9-1-1 to report the details.
Together, we can work to make our roads and communities safer.
For more information contact the Road Safety Bureau at 1-866-876-5423, ext.7703.
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