CYPRUS TRAFFIC COPS GET SMART

From inCyprus - article 18 August 2017

Traffic police in Cyprus have turned up the heat on offending motorists thanks largely to its new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and ‘smart policing’ systems.  The smart policing system, introduced earlier this year, has already boosted conviction results compared to 2016 levels.

The ANPR is a highly accurate system capable of reading vehicle number plates without human intervention through the use of high-speed image capture with supporting illumination.
Currently, 22 patrol cars are fitted with the system. Ten are with police headquarters in Nicosia while the remaining 12 are distributed among the remaining districts.  Police aim at equipping a hundred patrol cars with the system.

The ANPR system offers the police the opportunity to detect a host of violations including expired car insurances, MOT, deregistered or immobilised vehicles, stolen number plates, international or other arrest warrants as well as detecting if the driver has been issued with a driver’s licence or if a driver’s licence has been revoked.

Road policing is a new international method of policing that was introduced in Cyprus in 2013 and has been responsible for combatting crime through the monitoring traffic and  was responsible for uncovering a further 441 criminal activities during routine traffic patrolling on Cyprus roads in 2016.

In many cases, police who stop motorists for routine traffic inspections discover that a driver is a wanted person or the car has been declared stolen.

It has also aided immensely in preventing the smuggling of goods, drugs and people through the mixed village of Pyla in the Larnaca district and through the various checkpoints to the north.
According to police spokesman Andreas Angelides, road policing is primarily carried out by the Traffic Department that have a 24-hour presence on the island’s roads as well as Anti-Riot Squad Police (MMAD), Anti-Drug Squad Police (YKAN) and the Crime Prevention Unit.

Cases being investigated due to road policing this year are up in comparison to last year.
Of the 441 one cases investigated in 2016, the majority involved drugs charges while 48 people wanted on various charges were found through road policing.

A further 41 cases involved illegal weapons charges and 10 concerned robberies and theft.
By the end of July 2017, police using the road policing system investigated 624 non-traffic related cases.  Of these, 72 involved drugs, 50 cases involved the illegal possession of firearms and explosives and other weapons, 46 cases of wanted persons and 382 other violations.