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Adjustments to the ALPR system.


Blackbird

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Short description:  To modify the ALPR system as to enforce fairness and roleplay.

Detailed description: Hey, it's me again, you forgot to take the trash o-...wait, this is the suggestion forum, damnit. Anyways, I'm here now to voice my concerns regarding the ALPR system. In my own thoughts and words it is the most utterly disgusting, overpowered, broken and utterly obnoxious tool the LEO factions have at their disposal. Every specialized vehicle comes equipped with an ALPR system that provides information even I don't personally have access to at a simple press of a button - more specifically my vehicle's insurance status and how long ago it ran out.

What I'm here to suggest is to change the ALPR system as to FORCE it's operators to roleplay using it (preventing scans of plateless vehicles) and to change it's script so that it requires a certain amount of type as to simulate the time it takes for the computerized algorithm to undergo all of the database searches and present it's values - this would be done by having the target vehicle be in a place, take an approximate 5 seconds to process, and present the results if the target vehicle was still within range/the pinpointed place. This would allow for the ALPR system to prevent abuse and pre-emptive scan windups. Such as:

VEHICLE - ALPR SCAN (5s) - VEHICLE ✔️

VEHICLE - ALPR SCAN (5s) - NOTHING 

NOTHING - ALPR SCAN (5s) - VEHICLE 

 

How would your suggestion improve the server? It would give players a more fair playing field and to prevent instant scans or otherwise, general abuse, of this overpowered tool.

Additional information:

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Why does the vehicle have to be in place for the system to pick up the plate? The showing of results can be delayed, yes, but the actual reading of the plate via the camera is instant. And how does it make sense to have to roleplay an AUTOMATED system every single time? It's called AUTOMATIC for a reason. Having to roleplay turning it on, yes, but every single use? Even from a realism standpoint there are a lot less cameras present than in real life (due to us having no stationary traffic cameras, which LA has a large number of: https://www.photoenforced.com/la.html . I have never, during my criminal roleplay, felt at any point the ALPR system is overpowered for law enforcement. Full disclaimer though: I am a member of PD currently, but no, I do NOT have access to ALPR vehicles, so I'm not defending my own ability to use them.

 

E: Vehicles that have no visible plates at all are already very overpowered, as the only way to actually see the plate on it is the ALPR. If a vehicle like that gets stopped in a traffic stop, I guaranteed that the owner will roleplay it having a plate on and visible, but when fleeing say a robbery scene there is no way to know without ALPR if the vehicle even has a plate at all.

Edited by Finn
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49 minutes ago, Blackbird said:

Every specialized vehicle comes equipped with an ALPR system that provides information even I don't personally have access to at a simple press of a button - more specifically my vehicle's insurance status and how long ago it ran out.

First of all, I have no clue where you got this information from, but that's absolutely not how ALPR here works, and it doesn't tell you how long ago the insurance ran out either.

 

As for your suggestion to improve "fairness," I will quote the ALPR policy of a North American province here:

 

The ALPR system uses infrared colour cameras and special software to read licence plates at a rate of up to 3,000 per hour. The cameras are mounted on police vehicles and scan licence plates on parked or moving vehicles. The scans are compared with the ALPR hot list, which is generated daily from Insurance Corporation and Police Information Centre databases. In the case of a hit, ALPR records the image of the vehicle, as well as its plate number, the date, time and GPS coordinates of the vehicle and the type of hit.

 

The ALPR system here was already designed to be significantly less superior than the system in real life. It only scans cars right in front of the cruiser, compared to any vehicle around the cruiser. On top of that, it's extremely buggy and it only works 50% of the time. In conclusion, ALPR is nowhere close to an overpowered tool.

 

Changes to the ALPR will just cause people to never insure their cars ever again. Period.

Edited by QuadTurboW16
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The first word in ALPR stands for automatic.

Automatic license plate reader.

It sends a signal to the data terminal which looks up said plate, and:
Tells the model
Tells the plate
Tells the owner
Tells the status (Licensed, unlicensed)
Tells the insurance status: insured or uninsured

 

It does not say how long it's been uninsured for.


In order for the ALPR to trigger, you have to drive no more than a short distance behind it. And at the right angle, or it won't work.

After this, you have to wait roughly five seconds

 

You have access to all this information in /vstats and by looking at the car and simply existing.
/vstats tells: The model, if it's insured or not, if it's registered or not, the plates.

Of course you'll know if you have a driver's license or not. If not sure, you can use /showlicenses (your own ID) to verify.

If you enter an uninsured car it'll prompt you to insure it.

 

So the only point of this suggestion is:
 

Quote

present the results if the target vehicle was still within range/the pinpointed place. This would allow for the ALPR system to prevent abuse and pre-emptive scan windups. Such as:

 

Which would be extremely unrealistic. Once your plates are read, the system does not require you to constantly remain in plain view of the vehicle. Once your plates are read, it reads the information. If it's caught your plates already, it doesn't need to keep sight of it to remember the vehicle.

 

I do not see how the ALPR is an overpowered tool. I personally, though I have access to it ICly, have never used it to pull someone over.  It's a niche tool used by detectives and uniformed investigative officers in specific situations.

 

Traffic however uses it more active, but I can't elaborate on that. I'm not a traffic officer.

It doesn't assist traffic with tracking down wanted criminals as it does not list if someone has a warrant for his arrest. It is a tool that's only useable to check insurance and if someone is licensed.

Edited by BjornV
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Just a note. ALPR doesn't shown WHEN your insurance ran out only that is has ran out. ALPR is almost instant with todays technology. There is no roleplay to be had with this system. You activate the system and it scans any numberplate that is readable alerting the operator if there is no insurance, the driver holds no license, who the owner is. That's it. If anything the ALPR system we have is significantly worse than the real world as in GTA W it has to be within a small area directly infront of the vehicle. In the real world anything within the cameras field of view will be scanned.

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yes hi it is red with input because I have worked with these systems before irl

 

The results are indeed instant. The number of false positives were also pretty noticable - It kept picking up white picket fences and plate glas windows as stolen m/v's outta Canada, for example. Excessive filth on a plate would make it a bit more unreliable, so I wouldn't mind seeing that mechanic in place.

 

These systems did show registration status and insurance status. They didn't elaborate on when it expired/etc and that required further searching in external law enforcement databases to figure out. They were also set up to flag vehicle owners that had active warrants, were known revoked/suspended, and other flags dropped on manually by admin/detectives.

 

As it stands now, all in-game ALPRs tell:

  • Insurance status
  • If vehicle is reported as stolen
  • If the registered owner does not have a license or if it's suspended.
  • Literally nothing else.

It's very picky to even get the script started right, and when it does work the info is exceptionally minimalistic.

 

So tl;dr no, not OP. Actual realistic ALPRs are 500% more OP. If you want to change things, maybe make it so vehicle filth affects ALPR detection.

Edited by Red.
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Just now, i dont wanna od in LA said:

ALPR is far too OP right now. Irl it doesn't tell you whether the insurance is expired or not, that's literally the reason why during every single traffic stop the cops will ask you to provide some proof of insurance. 

Please quote your sources. Police can run your plates and instantaneously see if your vehicle is insured or not (Basic google search.) The reason police officers ask for proof of insurance is because their database might be outdated by the time they pull you over.

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1 minute ago, i dont wanna od in LA said:

ALPR is far too OP right now. Irl it doesn't tell you whether the insurance is expired or not, that's literally the reason why during every single traffic stop the cops will ask you to provide some proof of insurance. 

ALPR does show in the real world if a vehicle holds no insurance or not. The reason cops in the real world ask for your insurance is the database often takes a day or so to update with any new insurance records that the vehicle may have.

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