The Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service has introduced automated licence plate readers (ALPR) as a public safety tool to flag vehicles linked to police alerts, successfully aiding in a Canada-wide arrest while prioritizing community privacy and education.
WIIKWEMKOONG鈥擣or some people, the words 鈥渁utomated licence plate reader鈥 might conjure an image of an increasingly watched world. Cameras quietly recording who comes and goes, storing information about ordinary people simply going about their day.
For Sgt. Mike Force of the Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service (WTPS), the reality has a less ominous intent.
The force鈥檚 new automated licence plate reader (ALPR) is not designed to monitor the community indiscriminately, he explained. It is a public safety tool; one that allows officers to identify vehicles associated with specific police alerts while respecting the privacy of people who are simply driving through the community.
鈥淲e are utilizing a technological advancement in ALPR that assists us in identifying people that have contraventions of law,鈥 Sgt. Force said. 鈥淥ur number one priority is community safety. It鈥檚 keeping the members of this community feeling safe and being safer.鈥
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