Police plan to deploy a specialist squad using low-cost night-vision “digital binoculars” to identify illegal number plates designed to be unreadable by automated number plate recognition (ANPR) systems. The device, described as acting like a digital infrared camera, is used at dusk or during the night to check for coatings that make plates hard for ANPR cameras to read.
The reporting explains that the technology can help officers detect so-called “ghost” plates, which rely on an invisible or concealed treatment that disrupts ANPR visibility. While both outlets focus on the same planned approach, they differ mainly in framing and wording rather than the underlying method: both describe the same type of handheld equipment, its limited operating conditions, and its purpose of verifying whether a plate carries a form of coating that undermines ANPR.
Neither source details additional operational outcomes, legal thresholds, or whether the devices are already in use, but both present the move as a targeted tactic against number-plate tampering affecting automated road policing.
