Robocopcar: High-tech Astra has its own wi-fi ‘bubble’, predicts where crimes will happen and can even recognise crooks’ faces

The £12,000 of state-of-the-art gadgetry,  including three computers and six cameras, means the car can predict where  crimes may happen and send the officers to the scene before any offence takes  place.

The vehicle has won backing from the  Association of Chief Police Officers, which set its manufacturers the challenge  of designing and building a police car for the future.

High-definition cameras allow the Astra to  capture every movement surrounding it, recording activity on the streets and  scanning people’s faces using facial-recognition software.

The car, which costs £21,020 and has a 122mph  top speed, is also equipped with fast broadband internet so that officers can  upload images and access CCTV footage and photos from the police national  database, allowing up-to-the-second intelligence-sharing.

A screen on the dashboard, which looks like a  satnav, displays a stream of information about people and places  outside.

Vauxhall, which has a 70 per cent share of  the police fleet market, claims the broadband bubble around the vehicle means  officers can spend an extra two hours out in the field. After successfully  completing its tests earlier this year, the Tourer is now being considered by  forces all over the country.

The car’s maker says it is an answer to  Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe’s directives for the car to  be the mobile office, so officers are always out in the field.

The Tourer allows for the docking of rugged  ‘Toughbook’ laptops and smartphones in the glove compartment and has an  aircraft-style black box behind a floor panel in the boot which continuously  collects data.

Mounted on the front, rear and both sides of  the roof are tiny cameras that can spot potential crime scenes as the car is  moving. The cameras also provide automatic number-plate recognition, which flags  up any vehicles linked to crimes.

Two more cameras are fixed on the officers  and the back seat so there is a visual record of a suspect’s evidence which can  also be used to provide evidence in claims of police brutality.

Dick Ellam, Vauxhall’s special vehicles  manager, said: ‘This British-built and converted Astra will help make police  officers more efficient. It allows them to spend more time fighting  crime

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