Nine people were arrested in Brighton and Hove by police as part of security measures for next weeks' Labour Party conference.

Police used a new hi-tech weapon, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), which flags up suspect vehicles.

With it fitted to police cars, ANPR teams checked vehicles as they entered the city at the weekend.

The system works by scanning number plates and matching them against information stored in databases.

It identifies vehicles of interest to police, such as stolen cars or those involved in crime.

When a suspicious vehicle is recognised it becomes a focus of police targeted interceptions and inquiries.

On Saturday evening two people were arrested for drink-driving and immigration offences.

On Sunday morning one person was arrested for driving whilst disqualified and during the afternoon, two vehicles were picked up by the ANPR as being stolen vehicles.

Police stopped the cars and a total of six people were arrested.

A force spokeswoman said: "ANPR will continue to be used throughout the conference, which starts at the Brighton Centre on Sunday."

Tuesday, September 20, 2005