Qld Cops' Numberplate Camera System Not Working, Says Auditor
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BRISBANE – Queensland Police have put the rollout of automatic number plate recognition cameras on ice after discovering they correctly clock offences in 19 percent of cases. Only 12 cameras remain in use.The situation has been criticised by the Queensland

Audit Office, which has understandably urged the force to get the system

working correctly.

The cameras are supposed to automatically detect vehicles out of register;

owners of registered vehicles who don’t have a valid driver’s licence; stolen

vehicles; and those suspected of being involved in an offence. 

The high failure rate is said to be due to the character-recognition software,

which it seems has problems identifying the differences between similar-looking

letters, such as O and Q – or maybe A and V.  There are also problems

reading personalised numberplates.

On top of that, the audit office found, the Department of Transport and Main

Roads is behind schedule on integration of key back-end systems.  This

means what’s supposed to be an automatic system requires manual intervention.

 “Until this integration occurs, the ability for police to intercept

unregistered and uninsured vehicles is less than under the previous system,

where a registration label was required to be displayed,”  the audit

office says.

Consequently the rollout of the cameras by Queensland Police is on hold. Among

other things, the report suggests the force fix the faulty software.