An examination of the feasibility of automated license plate recognition technology for parking lot deployment

In order to assess the feasibility of ALPR technology in Canada, a pilot project using the technology was conducted in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada in 2006. As part of this larger pilot project, one unmarked police vehicle equipped with ALPR technology was deployed to a number of major parking lots in Surrey. The purpose of this current study was to examine the data from this one car to analyze the quantity, quality, and location of „hits‟ to determine whether it was a viable and useful strategy to deploy ALPR-enabled police vehicles to parking lots. Given the proportion of „hits‟ in parking lots, it is recommended that ALPR not be deployed to parking lots alone. While there may be a benefit to deploying ALPR-enabled vehicles to parking lots between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., it would appear that the technology might be more useful along high traffic corridors.