Why State Identification is Vital in License Plate Readers
Vehicle identifications constitute a key component of many perimeter and access control security protocols. In today’s world, you must know the people and vehicles coming and going from your facility in order to assess the validity of the visit and determine the threat they or their vehicle may pose to the environment. Manually checking a license plate number against a secured database in an effort to verify the person and vehicle can consume on average 3-4 minutes of a gate officer’s time, potentially causing traffic congestion and frustration issues at the point of entry. That’s why there is a growing need for automated, real-time License Plate Readers that read state identification.
It is not uncommon for license plate numbers to be repeated from state to state. In those cases, “State Identification” becomes the qualifying variable that allows gate officers to properly cross-check against secured databases. If “State Identification” data is missing, gate officers must manually check and enter that information before querying databases like NCIC. This manual solution can potentially cause a massive tie-up of the databases query and becomes an enormous resource drain on the officers, who spend their time cleaning and qualifying data, instead of assessing the information.
Most License Plate Readers do not identify the plate’s origin, leaving data integrity in doubt. But those who have experienced Automated License Plate Readers with “State Identification” capabilities firsthand agree that they handily provide a greater degree of accuracy and protection. Data accuracy and speed underpin timely and thorough threat assessment; and, timely and thorough threat assessment is the cornerstone of watchful security. By automating the vehicle identification process and returning all available plate data for thorough local and federal database clearances, facilities that make use of these new technologies report both decreased risk and increased operational efficiency.
Facilities worldwide have vehicle inspection processes as part of perimeter security protocols. Gate officers at these facilities inspect hundreds of vehicles daily before granting vehicles and occupants access to the facility, But how do security managers maintain the highest standard of watchfulness, while avoiding monotony and general malaise and ensuring adherence to standard security operating procedures?
Automated under vehicle inspection systems are growing in popularity because they allow gate officers to quickly view images of a vehicle’s undercarriage on a computer screen. While under vehicle inspection systems increases vehicle throughput and expedites the inspection process, gate officers can become too reliant on some of its features and fail to employ the critical human thought process. Security managers using anomaly detection technology, have a common misconception that technology can become the decision maker in a threat assessment situation, rather than the tool that allows officers to make vital decisions.
Many consumers are under the impression that the system understands when a threatening anomaly is present. A wide misconception is that anomaly detection capabilities are utilizing the same form of technology that detects radiation or a bomb, but this is not the case. In the case of Under Vehicle Inspection Systems offering anomaly detection, the technology is quite simply image comparison software. What is really occurring in this technology is the software is comparing the undercarriage of the vehicle from an image captured of the same vehicle from a previous visit. When the software senses something different from one photo to another, the software will highlight the differences and send an alert. If a vehicle goes through a car wash prior to a visit but then returns on a separate occasion with a dirty undercarriage, false anomalies could register in the software. In most cases, anomalies turn out to be organic. Officers then find themselves spending more time, ruling out these false alarms instead of assessing the image and data on hand and the surrounding environment.
Perceptics’ under vehicle inspection systems give gate officers the best color image and comes equipped with enhancement features that allow them to closely inspect, compare and archive vehicle images and data. With the right tools, gate officers are more empowered to execute thorough standard operating procedures without falling into the dangerous area of complacency and over reliance on technology.
Anatomy of a Thorough Vehicle Identification and Inspections Process Assessing and mitigating security threats at a commercial or government facility ought to start at the point of entry or gate and is best served using a multi-layered security technology approach, appropriate to the level of threat at a particular installation. Layered security technologies at the facility’s perimeter helps security officers identify and inspect vehicles, determining if a threat exists, before the vehicle and its occupant are granted access to the facility.
Using the Perceptics License Plate Reader system, security officers can automatically read a vehicle’s plate, capturing the plate’s characters, including state identification for the purpose of checking the data against a local, state or federal crime database. Officers can use the plate data for the purpose of white listing visitors to a given facility. While License Plate Recognition technology serves to identify the vehicle, the Under Vehicle Inspection System serves to inspect the undercarriage for anomalies or alterations. Perceptics’ Under Vehicle Inspection system scans the undercarriage of a vehicle, capturing a single high resolution color image. Automatic License Plate Reader and Under Vehicle Inspection System technologies allow offers to perform a more through security check at the gate while increasing traffic flow. The data captured from these systems serve as vital objective evidence that the security inspection occurred. |
