A quarter of a million dollar grant from the provincial government is giving the Thunder Bay Police Service an upgrade to its vehicle licence plate reader system.

Automated Licence Plate Recognition or ALPR technology was installed on one cruiser in January of 2021, the system was connected to a roof rig that could read licence plates on passing vehicles and run them through a database according to Acting Sergeant Sal Carchidi.

“Those cars are hooked up to a provincial database, which including suspended drivers, unlicenced drivers, unattached plates, persons with criminal warrants , also identifies vehicles that may be have been reported stolen.”

With the $286,324 through the province, not only is the ALPR technology being condensed into an onboard dashcam that comes standard with police cruisers, but it is also expanding the amount of units equipped to 31 vehicles.

Acting Sergeant Carchidi says while Thunder Bay isn’t a hotspot for stolen vehicles, the technology allows city police to help fellow officers in other jurisdictions.

“It’s not a rampant problem, like you would encounter in Toronto where there are auto theft rings, but it does occur in Thunder Bay. The bonus of this system is that it is linked to a national CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre) it will identify any stolen car in Canada.”

The new upgrades are expected to be fully installed in the 31 cruisers and on the road in early 2023.