A HIGH-TECH number plate recognition system, which has been in use in Northern Ireland for several years and which can register thousands of cars every hour, is to be substantially upgraded following a decision by the British treasury to pay £12 million (€15 million) for improvements, according to Northern Ireland Minister of State Hugo Swire.
Mr Swire has told the House of Commons the upgraded system will “be a useful device in its continuing battle against those who would commit crime”.
Mr Swire told Labour MP David Hanson: “The Secretary of State has been lobbying the treasury since he took office and I am delighted to be able to announce that we have that funding for the PSNI.”
The improvements were welcomed by Democratic Unionist MP Ian Paisley.
Since 2006, most motorways and main roads in the United Kingdom, along with London districts covered by the congestion charge, have been covered by the number plate cameras. The system can identify cars that are stolen, untaxed or uninsured but it can also be used to track terrorist or criminal suspects.
Unionist MPs demanded assurances from the NI Secretary of State Mr Paterson and Mr Swire that the PSNI would get extra funding if necessary to tackle the threat from dissident republicans.
Mr Swire said the threat posed was “severe” and he condemned a series of recent “indiscriminate” bomb attacks and attempted attacks, including a 300lb bomb, which had targeted innocent people.
The Northern Ireland Office would support any request by the PSNI for extra money.
But he added: “It is perhaps worth remembering that in Northern Ireland there is still an average of 4.36 police officers per 1,000 of the population. That compares with 2.87 per 1,000 of the population in England and Wales.
“I am not saying that that is necessarily enough – it can never be enough – but there are police and resources, and we respond to demands from the PSNI.”
Saying that he did not wish to describe those involved as “dissident republicans because that gives them a status that they do not deserve”, Mr Swire said the PSNI and the Garda Síochána were “working extremely carefully and closely together to try to prevent these atrocities from happening on a more regular basis”.
