By Aneeka Simonis
WELL over 200 cars are recorded on a ‘watch list’ at one of the major highway petrol stations in Officer.
Both inbound and outbound BP service stations are manned with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, and regularly consult with police investigators.
One of the stations even takes reports of stolen cars or number plates direct from victims in an attempt to help police in their recovery efforts.
BP outbound general manager Andrew Cliff revealed the number of blacklisted cars almost doubled from August to October this year compared with the same quarter in 2015.
Alerts are heard when a car recorded on the watch list enters one of the petrol stations.
The alerts relate to cars involved in criminal matters including petrol drive-offs, are reported as stolen or of police interest.
They even have alerts for cars linked to incidents of verbal abuse involving staff.
Mr Cliff said police requested footage of suspect vehicles “all the time”.
“Last week we had lots of requests,” he said.
A worker at the outbound BP Service Station on the Princes Freeway took to social media to encourage victims of car or number plate theft to report it to them, citing increases in rates of car theft locally.
All of the highway stations have a linked database, alerting them to incidents that may have occurred in other parts of the state.
Stolen cars or number plates can be reported by email at info@bpofficer.com.au.
