{"id":20004,"date":"2009-08-19T18:41:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T18:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/?p=20004"},"modified":"2026-04-03T11:09:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T10:09:05","slug":"devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/","title":{"rendered":"Devon force divulges ANPR towns online"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This was the first article in a long series on police ANPR, based on the Freedom of Information request mentioned here. It eventually led to <a title=\"Roadside cameras suffer from large gaps in coverage, police admit\" href=\"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/police-anpr-cameras-successful-failure-for-foi-reveals-flaws\/\">a Guardian page lead story in August 2012<\/a> &#8211; based on the information gleaned from the eventual failure of the FoI request, which revealed a &#8220;patchy&#8221; national system &#8211; and <a title=\"Police ANPR: Ring of steel for MATTER, sieves of steel for rural cops\" href=\"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/police-anpr-ring-of-steel-for-matter-sieves-of-steel-for-rural-cops\/\">an article for MATTER published in August 2013<\/a> which I co-edited.<br \/>\n<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><!-- GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/government-computing-network\/2009\/aug\/20\/anpr-devon-cornwall-torquay-brixham-dawlish-20aug09\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" alt=\"Powered by Guardian.co.uk\" width=\"140\" height=\"45\" \/>This article titled &#8220;Devon force divulges ANPR towns online&#8221; was written by SA Mathieson, for theguardian.com on Wednesday 19th August 2009 23.05 UTC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The webpage, which publicised the force&#8217;s appearance in <em>Crimefighters<\/em>, a fly on the wall ITV1 series, says the force has automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) systems running in Torquay, Brixham and Dawlish in Devon.<\/p>\n<p>This is in contrast to the force&#8217;s response to a Freedom of Information request from Kable, in which it refused to divulge any information whatsoever on the location of its ANPR equipment.<\/p>\n<p>The page said ANPR &#8220;allows officers to use CCTV to monitor vehicles and use their registrations to call up details of the owners on a huge database&#8221;. The programme, which has already been broadcast, featured the work of different specialist units within the force including the traffic police.<\/p>\n<p>However, in a Freedom of Information response to questions including the location of its ANPR equipment, the force said: &#8220;If the locations of these cameras were published, potential criminals would know where they are, and could bypass\/avoid them or destroy them entirely. This would mean that the Force would be less able to detect and reduce crime on the roads.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said that naming the towns was not the same as saying on which road the ANPR cameras are located: &#8220;They are quite big places, and they could be anywhere in the towns, so we wouldn&#8217;t have an issue with that.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>The page divulging towns where the force uses ANPR had been removed during the last few weeks, although it is <a href=\"http:\/\/209.85.229.132\/search?q=cache:c0exTzDP8ocJ:www.devon-cornwall.police.uk\/V3\/news\/arch_bill\/March05\/news\/news11.htm\">still visible through search engine caching services<\/a>. The spokesperson said that it is down as part of a redevelopment of the force&#8217;s website, and similar information might appear in future.<\/p>\n<p>guardian.co.uk &#169; Guardian News &amp; Media Limited 2010<\/p>\n<p>Published via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/open-platform\/news-feed-wordpress-plugin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Guardian plugin page\">Guardian News Feed<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/the-guardian-news-feed\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Wordress plugin page\">plugin<\/a> for WordPress.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END GUARDIAN WATERMARK --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Devon and Cornwall Police has published the location of some of its road surveillance cameras on its website, despite these normally being secret<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[146,2,10,16,17,22,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anpr","category-articles","category-it","category-police","category-privacy","category-the-south-west","category-transport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary&#039;s promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary&#039;s promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SA Mathieson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SA Mathieson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SA Mathieson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SA Mathieson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36\"},\"headline\":\"Devon force divulges ANPR towns online\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/image.guardian.co.uk\\\/sys-images\\\/Guardian\\\/Pix\\\/pictures\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/01\\\/poweredbyguardian.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"ANPR\",\"Articles\",\"IT\",\"Police\",\"Privacy\",\"The South West\",\"Transport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/\",\"name\":\"Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/image.guardian.co.uk\\\/sys-images\\\/Guardian\\\/Pix\\\/pictures\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/01\\\/poweredbyguardian.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36\"},\"description\":\"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/image.guardian.co.uk\\\/sys-images\\\/Guardian\\\/Pix\\\/pictures\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/01\\\/poweredbyguardian.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/image.guardian.co.uk\\\/sys-images\\\/Guardian\\\/Pix\\\/pictures\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/01\\\/poweredbyguardian.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/\",\"name\":\"SA Mathieson\",\"description\":\"Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36\",\"name\":\"SA Mathieson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"SA Mathieson\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/samathieson\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/samathieson.com\\\/sa-mathieson\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay","description":"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay","og_description":"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.","og_url":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/","og_site_name":"SA Mathieson","article_published_time":"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"SA Mathieson","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"SA Mathieson","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/"},"author":{"name":"SA Mathieson","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/#\/schema\/person\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36"},"headline":"Devon force divulges ANPR towns online","datePublished":"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/"},"wordCount":380,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png","articleSection":["ANPR","Articles","IT","Police","Privacy","The South West","Transport"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/","url":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/","name":"Devon and Cornwall Constabulary divulges police ANPR cameras in Torbay","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png","datePublished":"2009-08-19T18:41:29+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T10:09:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/#\/schema\/person\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36"},"description":"The first in a series of articles on police ANPR, on Devon and Cornwall Constabulary's promotion of its police ANPR cameras on ITV1.","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/devon-and-cornwall-constabulary-divulges-police-anpr-cameras-in-torbay\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/image.guardian.co.uk\/sys-images\/Guardian\/Pix\/pictures\/2010\/03\/01\/poweredbyguardian.png"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/","name":"SA Mathieson","description":"Journalist, editor, analyst and trainer on computing, government, climate and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/#\/schema\/person\/3606fa34fc4a527f20eeb5a32ff83a36","name":"SA Mathieson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/023c08559e663aa567033c4c53dea808a97496ecb3e08431abc1a347ef45782b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"SA Mathieson"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/samathieson"],"url":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samathieson.com\/sa-mathieson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}