How Dubai Police trapped thousands of violators with roof mounted cameras

Dubai: More than 1,600 wanted cars, marked for either traffic or criminal offences, have been seized in the past 11 months using the roof-mounted camera on patrol vehicles, Dubai Traffic Police revealed.

Colonel Saif Muhair Al Mazroui, Director of Dubai Traffic Police, said the cameras mounted on the siren lights of patrol vehicles are continuously operational.

“The camera records the licence plates of vehicles, whether they are in motion or not, and runs them through the Dubai Police database,” Col Al Mazroui said, adding that the police are then notified about wanted vehicles in the area.

“The camera’s lenses are interchangeable,” he said, “so the officer on-duty may opt to switch to a different type of lens, if the situation necessitates it.”

Col Al Mazroui said that the roof-mounted camera technology helped to seize 1,664 wanted cars in the last 11 months.

“As many as 1,091 were cars wanted for criminal offences,” he said, “while the remaining 573 were wanted for traffic offences.”

Col Al Mazroui said almost four million licence plates were scanned by the roof-mounted cameras during the same period.