Police Camera Van at J7 of M3
Discussion
Recently I've noticed a police camera van which is sometimes parked at the top of the westbound J7 off slip. (J7 is Basingstoke South) The van parks behind some foliage at the top of the sliproad, on the left part of the bridge as you approach westbound. It appears to have four of what look like CCTV cameras on tripods, these are connected to the van with thick black cables. One camera points down the slip road, the other three cameras are on the bridge and appear to be directed at lanes one, two and three westbound. (The cameras themselves are facing eastbound, so you'll be looking straight at them as you drive westbound under the first of the junction bridges.)
I did notice that there is usually a marked police bike or volvo sitting at the top of the sliproad next to the van. (Also mostly hidden from view when on the motorway or sliproad, due to the foliage) From this position the bike or volvo could persue someone who had exited the motorway (as they sit at the top of the off slip), or they could join the westbound carriageway to persue someone along the motorway.
Further down the motorway I did see a marked volvo which had pulled a car, then further up there was a police bike which had pulled a car towing a trailer, and a bit further there was another bike which had stopped a car, and finally one more police car had stopped a motorist. They were really out in numbers.
I was trying to figure out what equipment they were using and why they were pulling people? I had a few ideas:
1 - does this setup sound like a mobile laser speed trap?
2 - Or is it more likely that they were checking number plates for tax/mot/insurance?
3 - Or maybe they were going after people on their mobiles?
4 - Was it a VASCAR setup?
Has anyone else seen this (i.e. van operating four cameras with a large number of pursuit vehicles, pulling large numbers of motorists)? I've not seen a setup like this before, so does anyone know what equipment they are using and why they are pulling people?
Cheers!
I did notice that there is usually a marked police bike or volvo sitting at the top of the sliproad next to the van. (Also mostly hidden from view when on the motorway or sliproad, due to the foliage) From this position the bike or volvo could persue someone who had exited the motorway (as they sit at the top of the off slip), or they could join the westbound carriageway to persue someone along the motorway.
Further down the motorway I did see a marked volvo which had pulled a car, then further up there was a police bike which had pulled a car towing a trailer, and a bit further there was another bike which had stopped a car, and finally one more police car had stopped a motorist. They were really out in numbers.
I was trying to figure out what equipment they were using and why they were pulling people? I had a few ideas:
1 - does this setup sound like a mobile laser speed trap?
2 - Or is it more likely that they were checking number plates for tax/mot/insurance?
3 - Or maybe they were going after people on their mobiles?
4 - Was it a VASCAR setup?
Has anyone else seen this (i.e. van operating four cameras with a large number of pursuit vehicles, pulling large numbers of motorists)? I've not seen a setup like this before, so does anyone know what equipment they are using and why they are pulling people?
Cheers!
mrmr96 said:
Has anyone seen the setup I'm talking about or one that's similar?
How sure are we that it's ANPR? I do agree that it does make sense, but I'd only previously heard of ANPR being used from the cameras mounted in police cars as they drive around, rather than from a static base?
How sure are we that it's ANPR? I do agree that it does make sense, but I'd only previously heard of ANPR being used from the cameras mounted in police cars as they drive around, rather than from a static base?
Yup seen it a lot around here. There is normally a van parked out of the way, a camera above each lane cab;ed to the van and some chase vehicles (typically bikes) hanging around too. I live not too far from J7 and was travelling to Portsdown Cliffs quite a lot during Trafalgar 200 celebrations. A lot of the footbridges had this ANPR set-up on it ensuring that certain unwelcomes were not travelling into the area at the time of the Queen's visit.
They also set this up at M3 Jct 5 northbound, and on the footbridges just after you get onto the M3 southbound from the M25.
I have seen this kind of thing on the A550/A117 dual carriageway into North Wales, a van sits around a bend and scans the passing cars. Just down the road theres a bridge/roundabout where the Police cars line up, ready for a quick launch onto the road. I saw 4 patrol cars on the stretch of road after the bridge, 2 waiting and 2 who had pulled people over.
mrmr96 said:
How sure are we that it's ANPR?
I work from an office in Dummer so come off at that junction several times a week, I stopped last week and ambled over for a chat with one of the chaps on a motorbike and I asked what they were and he told me they were ANPR and not speed camera's so from the horses mouth as it were
Mind you he could have been a sneaky beggar trying to get me to break the law!!!
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