Police in New Zealand have started trialling a new phone app that lets officers scan car number plates straight from their own mobile phones.
The six-week trial began this month and involves about 50 frontline officers working in both provincial and urban areas.
The app can instantly tell an officer if a car is stolen, linked to a person of interest, or has a warrant of fitness or registration that expired more than two months ago.
Right now, most number plate scanning is done using special cameras fitted to police cars, which cost around $30,000 each to install. The new phone app is expected to cost about $150,000 in total to roll out to all frontline officers, which police say is a big saving.
Superintendent Iain Chapman, Police’s Director of Deployment, called the new technology “a real game changer” and said it would also be “a real cost saving.”
Police Association President Steve Watt said the change would help keep officers safer while they are out on patrol.
Not everyone is completely comfortable with it, though. Criminologist Emmy Rākete said giving police this much power to check information so easily was “a really big move.”
Police say the app does not record any photos or footage of the number plates it scans, only alerting officers when something needs a closer look.
If the trial goes well, the technology could eventually be used by police right across the country.
Te Reo Māori
Pane: E Whakamātau Ana Ngā Pirihimana i te Hangarau Waea mō ngā Papa Rēhita
Kua tīmata ngā pirihimana o Aotearoa ki te whakamātau i tētahi taupānga waea hou, e taea ai e ngā pirihimana te mātai tonu i ngā papa rēhita waka mā ō rātou ake waea pūkoro.
I tīmata te whakamātau e ono wiki te roa i tēnei marama, e whakauru ana i te 50 pirihimana kei mua i te aroaro e mahi ana i ngā rohe taone me ngā rohe tuawhenua.
Ka taea e te taupānga te whakaatu tonu mai ki tētahi pirihimana mēnā kua tāhaetia tētahi waka, e hono ana ki tētahi tangata e whāia ana, ērā rānei kua pahemo ake i te rua marama te roa tōna waranata noho pai (WOF) me tōna rēhitatanga.
I tēnei wā, ka mahia te nuinga o te mātai papa rēhita mā ngā kāmera motuhake kua whakapiritia ki ngā waka pirihimana, ā, tata ki te $30,000 te utu mō ia kāmera hei whakauru. Ko te tūmanako mō te taupānga waea hou he $150,000 te utu whānui hei whakauru ki ngā waea o ngā pirihimana katoa kei mua i te aroaro, he nui hoki te penapena moni e ai ki ngā pirihimana.
Ko Kaiwhakahaere Iwi Nui a Iain Chapman, te Kaiwhakahaere Tuku Ratonga o ngā Pirihimana, i kī ko tēnei hangarau hou “he tino take huri i te āhua” ā, “he tino penapena moni” hoki.
Ko te Perehitini o te Rōpū Pirihimana, a Steve Watt, i kī ka āwhina tēnei huringa ki te whakahaumaru ake i ngā pirihimana i a rātou e mahi ana i te huarahi.
Ehara i te mea kua koa katoa te tangata. Ko te tohunga rangahau taihara a Emmy Rākete i kī he “tino nui” tēnei mahi, e whakawātea ana i ngā pirihimana kia mātai māmā noa i te tini o ngā mōhiohio.
Hei tā ngā pirihimana, kāore te taupānga e pupuri whakaahua, riipene rānei o ngā papa rēhita e mātaihia ana, engari ka whakatūpato noa i te pirihimana ina tika kia āta tirohia tētahi mea.
Mēnā ka pai te whakamātau, tērā pea ka whakamahia tēnei hangarau e ngā pirihimana puta noa i te motu.
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