Vumacam & Licence Plate Recognition cameras apprehend wanted suspect

A vehicle flagged as a high priority vehicle, wanted for numerous house break-ins was captured on Fidelity ADT’s Licence Plate Recognition cameras in Wilropark on 1 December.

Charnel Hattingh Head of Marketing & Communications at Fidelity ADT says that once the Fidelity ADT team received the hit from one of the LPR cameras, installed near the Caltex on Ruhamah Drive. The licence plate image was confirmed to be the priority vehicle. The vehicle, a white Kia Cerato was spotted and followed by the team, the Westrand SAPS K9 unit pulled over the vehicle and the suspect was apprehended.

After searching the vehicle, housebreaking tools were found hidden in a compartment under the handbrake. The vehicle was impounded and the Suspect was apprehended and handed over to Mondeor SAPS.

“LPR cameras are an excellent crime deterrent. There are several benefits for both the community and security providers as the LPR cameras are linked to a national database of suspicious or stolen vehicles. The system is monitored 24-hours a day and the presence of the cameras themselves act as a good deterrent to criminals. Should a confirmed suspicious vehicle be found and stopped in a suburb, the occupants will be questioned and, if no evidence is found, monitored closely until the vehicle leaves the suburb. It is a sobering wake-up call for criminals who don’t even realise they’ve been captured on the LPR system,” says Hattingh.

“The suspect was linked to eight house break cases across the South and East of Johannesburg. Well done to the teams. Criminals are becoming more and more sophisticated and so we need to be ahead of them every step of the way,” she concludes.