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- Get a Police Record Check
- Criminal Record Check
- Judicial Matters Check
- Vulnerable Sector Check
- Request Your Police Reports
- Freedom of Information Request
- Request a Paid Duty Officer
- Bicycle Registration
- Business with Toronto Police
- Parking Services
- Report a Traffic Collision
- Towing
- Report illegal parking
- Resource Centre
- Form Centre
- Understanding Alarm Response
- Victim & Witness Resources
- Attempt/Threaten Suicide Information on CPIC
- Fingerprint & Photograph Destruction
- Vulnerable Persons Registry
- Book A Divisional Community Room
- Get Your Court Documents
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Automatic Licence Plate Recognition
- Toronto Police Service
- Use of Technology
- Automatic Licence Plate Reader
Toronto Police Service uses Automatic Licence Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology to received real-time alerting in patrol vehicles to arrest wanted criminals, recover stolen vehicles and locate missing persons that are on various hotlists.
All of this data is secure, not sold to 3rd parties, and only used for law enforcement purposes by authorized personnel.
Learn more by reading the www.tps.ca story here.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is being detected?
An image of the licence plate and vehicle as well as the text of the plate and the date, time and location of the vehicle.
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How long is the data stored?
Read” records are stored in a database for 1 day.
“Hit” records (anything that is on a hot list, i.e., stolen vehicle) are retained for 365 days and then purged.
Note: If a hit record is converted into evidence for a case, it will be retained with the other case-related material until that case is purged.
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Are people detected by the technology?
No, the system does not have facial recognition or the ability to differentiate people based on gender or race.
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Who provides the technology?
The system is provided by Axon.
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Who uses this data?
The data is used for law enforcement purposes only and owned by the Toronto Police Service. It is never sold to third parties.
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Who can search the data?
Only members of the Toronto Police Service can search the data. All data searches require a valid search reason or case number, which is captured in audit logs and stored indefinitely.
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Has there been any consultations with the Privacy Commissioner on the Service’s use of ALPR?
The Service will be engaged as part of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario’s (IPC) ALPR Guidance review.
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What is a hotlist?
A list of known licence plates and vehicles of interest, which are stolen, wanted for or potentially associated with unlawful activity or missing persons. These lists are created by the Toronto Police Service or another agency such as the Ministry of Transportation, who provide data on suspended licences.
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What are the hotlist categories?
Amber Alert | Armed Robbery | Assault | BOLO Most Wanted | Carjacking | Hit and Run | Homicide | Missing Person | Stolen Vehicle
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How many vehicles are outfitted with ALPR technology?
Over 560 vehicles have the technology installed. This can result in over 1.25 million scanned licence plates every day in Toronto alone.