VISITORS to The Trafford Centre are now shopping in peace thanks to a Big Brother network of secret cameras.
Statistics have shown that last year's newly-installed Automatic Number Plate Recognition system (ANPR) has been a great success.
Car crime has been drastically reduced and other offences like credit card fraud have dropped.
The £230,000 technology identifies registration plates on stolen vehicles and checks them against a national database. Between January and April, car crime at the shopping complex fell by 67 per cent compared to the same period in 2003.
Police have made around 100 arrests since the new system was installed. Criminals are becoming aware that they are being watched and are deciding to stay away. ANPR units are being used by police all over the country with teams of traffic officers being based on major routes and motorways.
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