Parking control scan car

Municipality of Arnhem

In Arnhem, scan cars drive around, driven by employees of the parking company P1. These scan cars use license plate recognition to check whether a parking right exists and if not, an additional charge (parking ticket) is sent.

Last change on 23rd of May 2024, at 14:02 (CET) | Publication Standard 1.0

• Publication category: Impactful algorithms
• Impact assessment: DPIA
• Status: In use

General information

Theme

• Public Order and Safety
• Space and Infrastructure

Begin date

01-2019

Contact information

[e-mail]

Link to publication website

https://www.arnhem.nl/Inwoners/parkeren/Privacyverklaring_parkeren_gemeente_Arnhem

Responsible use

Goal and impact

Main purpose: Scanauto processing aims to enforce (partially automated) paid parking. (personal data)

Sub-objective 1: Measuring willingness to pay (no personal data)

Sub-goal 2: Measuring parking pressure (no personal data)

Considerations

By deploying scan cars, the municipality of Arnhem can carry out parking enforcement more easily, efficiently and carefully. A BOA tests whether the algorithm has been executed correctly. This reduces the risk of errors, i.e. incorrectly imposed assessments.

Human intervention

The photos are viewed by a P1 employee (employee in charge of a tax enforcement task). The employee reviews the ambient photos to see whether there is actually unpaid parking and whether an additional charge is due for this. If in doubt, the rule is that no additional charge is imposed or it is forwarded to a controller on the street who can assess it better. So there is always human intervention and no automated decisions are made. So the algorithm provides information and this enables an employee, partly based on this, to make the right decision. So the algorithm does not have the last word, but a controller does.

Risk management

In the present situation, the main risk is that the system misrecognises a license plate and an individual receives a fine when they do not deserve it. This can occur, for example, when a letter or digit on the license plate is incorrectly recognised by both the algorithm and the checker. To manage the aforementioned risk, individuals are given the option to object (digitally) via the website https://arnhem.parkeer.nl within 6 weeks. There is also the option to object to the decision in writing.

Legal basis

Deployment of scan car & Imposition of after charge: municipal law, section 225(1) and section 234(3)

Payment of after charge: Parking and Parking Taxes Ordinance 2024, Article 6(2-4)

Links to legal bases

• Verordening Parkeren en Parkeerbelastingen Arnhem 2024: https://lokaleregelgeving.overheid.nl/CVDR705828/
• Gemeentewet : https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0005416/2024-01-31

Elaboration on impact assessments

The municipality of Arnhem conducted a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) on the deployment of scanning cars.

Impact assessment

Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA)

Operations

Data

Overview personal data

1) License plates (general)

2) Parking right (general)

3) Photographs (General, no special pg, no distinction of race or orientation)

4) Financial data - post-tax (general)

Technical design

The scan car makes daily rounds through the municipality of Arnhem to check whether motorists have paid for a parking space. On top of the car are cameras. These cameras automatically scan all license plates of parked cars and use an image recognition algorithm to identify license plates. The license plates are compared with a database containing all registered parking entitlements, both those of permit holders and purchased tickets. A positive result means the car has a valid parking right. In case of a negative result, something is wrong and this is checked by a BOA.

External provider

ScanACar