The British government?s plan to implement the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system raises important questions on how to balance security and privacy properly. In order to understand the contours of the debate between privacy and security, particularly as it relates to the ANPR system, it is important to understand how this new surveillance system works. According to John Dean, the national coordinator for the ANPR system, British law enforcement’s aim ?is to deny criminals the use of the road.? The ANPR system will utilize thousands of cameras positioned around major highways and key back roads throughout Britain . It will be able to photograph passing cars and through the use of Optical Character Recognition technology scan the characters on the license plate. Once scanned, the license plate will be compared to a national database to check if the motorist is sought by law enforcement. Once operational in June 2006, the ANPR system will be able monitor approximately 3,600 license plates per hour.

Without question, the ANPR system offers law enforcement a powerful tool to both detect and deter crime of all types. The ability to monitor major portions of the road network will allow police to identify crimes in progress as well as apprehend criminals fleeing the scene of a crime. Moreover, as the efficacy of the ANPR system is proven, it may cause criminal and terrorist to think twice before committing crimes where they are likely to be videotaped.