About 150 automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPRs) have been installed in two predominantly Muslim areas of Britain’s second biggest city Birmingham from the government’s anti-terrorism fund, it was reported Saturday.
The cameras, including 40 concealed in walls and trees, are targeted to track the precise movement of people entering and leaving the Sparkbrook and Washwood Heath neighbourhoods of Birmingham, central England in the first surveillance of its kind in the UK.The installation project, which is three times the number to monitor the city centre, was principally been sold to locals as an attempt to combat antisocial behavior, vehicle crime and drug dealing in the area.
But according to the Guardian, the cameras have been paid for by a £3 million grant from the Terrorism and Allied Matters Fund, which has been previously used to monitor potential targets but not whole communities.
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