NEW cameras have helped North-East police arrest ten times more criminals than normal beat officers.

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition system can scan thousands of car registration numbers every minute.

The devices, which sit at the side of the road like speed traps, are linked to a computer database that contains registration plate details of vehicles that are untaxed or wanted by police.

When a suspect car passes a camera, its details and location are sent to police cars, which will then intercept it.

The system is on its way to Sunderland, where 24 cameras will be installed, and Cleveland Police are considering a permanent replacement of a successful mobile machine.

The Cleveland force has had a mobile system for the past three years.

Inspector Jim Wilkinson, who is in charge of the Cleveland scheme, said: "We want to set up a permanent site like Northumbria are intending to do.

"Our mobile scheme has been very successful here. We were initially part of a pilot scheme.

"We normally arrest ten times more people than a normal officer on patrol.

"Since we have had this system, it has helped to recover more than £136,000 of stolen property and drugs.

"Just the other week we had a car which was flagged up on the system.

"We pulled it over and the driver ran off.

"We had to catch him and when we did, we found drugs in the car and an amount of cash in his house.

"Without the camera system, we would not have stopped that car."