Number-plate matching for automatic vehicle identification

The continuing increase in the number of vehicle related offences has generated a wave of interest by law enforcement agencies, in investigating the use of automatic vehicle identification (AVI) techniques for apprehending/prosecuting offenders. The authors have outlined how number plate matching could be effectively used, possibly in conjunction with conventional technologies, in the prevention, detection, and solution of crime. The measures taken to minimise some problems in number plate matching and hence improve on the character recognition capability have also been discussed. Initial experiments in the implementation of these algorithms indicate that very high success rates are possible with this approach