The Home Office states the purpose of automatic number plate recognition in the United Kingdom is to help detect, deter and disrupt criminality including tackling organised crime groups and terrorists. Vehicle movements are recorded by a network of nearly 8000 cameras capturing between 25 and 30 million ANPR 'read' records daily. These records are stored for up to two years in the National ANPR Data Center, which can be accessed, analysed and used as evidence as part of investigations by UK law enforcement agencies.

What's the best answer to this question: do police cars automatically scan license plates uk?
yes