CIVICar, the Lleida Police car equipped with a surveillance camera

By now it should come as no surprise that a police car has a surveillance camera. It is usually a routine tool used to support police work. But in Lleida, a Municipal Police car equipped with a roof-mounted camera designed to detect many fines that until now went unnoticed has only recently started operating.

The municipal guard car has two cameras mounted on the vehicle’s roof, which capture everything happening around it and detect vehicles parked illegally that hinder mobility. Cars parked double-parked, on pedestrian crossings, on the bike lane and in areas reserved for people with reduced mobility can be identified and fined more easily and quickly.

A car that seeks to improve coexistence

According to the city’s mayor, the purpose of this vehicle is to improve coexistence and to act against drivers who ignore traffic rules and fail to comply with basic standards of behaviour. The car will operate in two areas of the city where the most complaints of this kind are registered, the Joc de la Bola and Bordeta area.

But this patrol vehicle will also be able to carry out other functions. The number plate reading system of the cars it records is checked against the DGT identification system. In this way it can also find out whether there is any alert on the number plate, whether the vehicle has been stolen, is subject to an embargo, or anything else that could affect it.

For example, it can check whether the vehicle has passed its ITV (roadworthiness test) or whether it lacks insurance. Few offenders will be able to escape the eye of Lleida’s municipal officers, and they can be fined automatically. A step forward in keeping track of the many vehicles circulating in the city, and one that will surely cause some controversy once fines begin on 7 June.

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