George Orwell's world can't be far away

THE letter in last week's Crow from the Chief Executive of the Hertfordshire Police Authority and the installation of surveillance unmanned ANPR cameras raises a number of concerns.

I have no problem with mobile ANPR cameras, backed up by police patrols able to stop unlicensed vehicles and catch villains. However, I am interested to know how an unmanned camera enables the police to stop and arrest the owner of the vehicle.

As the cameras are used to identify those vehicles which are untaxed and in the main have no registered keeper, how will the police know where to go to catch the offender?

If they cannot trace the owner of the vehicles, what is the point of the cameras?

However, I am pleased to see that data is not held on law-abiding citizens without good reason. Can Mr White therefore explain what good reason there is for retaining the data.

While I have no problem with my vehicle's number plate being checked, I expect that once confirmed no offence has been committed, that the data will be immediately deleted. I can think of no good reason why the police should retain a record of my movements.

We do not yet live in a police state, although increasingly George Orwell's world cannot be far away.

Our police force serves us, the citizens, and Mr White is supposed to be protecting the interest of the citizens as one of our representatives on the police authority.

I trust we will not have these cameras installed around Royston.

Slightly changing the subject, the police having stopped a vehicle towing a stolen caravan and having seen the villains running from the scene, armed with the vehicles number plate, forensic evidence and a description of the culprits, I trust arrests have been made.

Or could it be the vehicle was unregistered with no known keeper?

Cllr Rod Kennedy

Town Mayor

Royston Heath Ward