MORE than 30 new number plate recognition cameras will be installed across Essex, as police aim to crackdown on criminals using the county's roads.

Essex Police will be installing 34 new Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras, meaning there will be 95 cameras across the county.

New camera sites are being considered in Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Colchester, Harlow, Harwich, Rayleigh, Saffron Walden, Southend, Thurrock, Wickford, Woodham Ferrers and the Tendring area.

Police say that evidence from ANPR cameras has been used in 206 court cases in the last twelve months to secure convictions for theft, burglary, vehicle crime, robbery, fraud, the supply of controlled drugs, kidnap, conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry of foreign nationals into the UK, serious domestic violence crimes, assault and murder.

Martin Lyddon, ANPR Manager at Essex Police, says more than 600 arrests were made using the cameras and believes they play an important role in improving road safety.

He said: "ANPR makes a positive contribution to policing objectives each and every day, supporting a range of activities from volume crime enquiries to major incidents.

"Between 2015 and 2016, 16 a total of 607 arrests were made using fixed site and portable ANPR. It has also been used by the Casualty Reduction Unit to enhance road safety and has been pivotal in the seizure of 502 vehicles for no insurance in Essex over the last six months.

"In October 2015, four men were convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment for their involvement in the widespread theft and disposal of vehicles stolen from across Essex.

"Fixed site ANPR helped trace the movement of the stolen vehicles and those being used to commit the crimes. The blend of traditional policing methods combined with ANPRtechnology brought these offenders to justice.”