The York Regional Police (YRP) are expanding a network of cameras equipped with automated licence-plate recognition (ALPR) to help locate stolen vehicles across York Region, including Aurora, Ontario. The project will increase the number of monitored intersections from 10 (the initial pilot) to 38 across the region. One of the locations listed for the cameras in Aurora is the intersection of Yonge Street and Wellington Street.
A provincial grant of $255,000 from the Ontario CCTV Grant Program is funding the expansion, which adds ALPR capability to cameras that previously served primarily as passive recording devices. The ALPR technology scans licence plates and compares them in real time to police hotlists of stolen vehicles; if a match is detected the system notifies YRP’s real-time operations centre so officers can confirm and respond. YRP’s public information says CCTV video footage is retained for approximately 72 hours unless it is needed for an investigation.
YRP says the tool is being deployed in response to increased vehicle thefts and to support investigations of violent crime in hotspot areas. To address privacy concerns, YRP’s program page states that footage not needed for an investigation will be deleted after about 72 hours. The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has published guidance on the use and retention of ALPR and CCTV data that police services are expected to follow. Residents can expect additional camera activations to roll out through November 2025.
