Raytec Illuminators Provide LPR for Colombian Police Cars

Raytec illuminators have been put to an exciting use by the police force of Bogota, Colombia. With a growing need for accurate, reliable and mobile licence plate capture to combat speeding in areas with no fixed monitoring, Bogota police cars were outfitted with licence plate cameras from IndigoVision, and VARIO Infra-Red illuminators from Raytec.

A mobile and highly flexible solution was essential. But achieving proper illumination was also a hurdle, as high quality lighting is mandatory to allow licence plate cameras to perform at their maximum proficiency 24 hours a day. The hardware, designed to mount on the top of patrol cars, was designed by Bogota based integrator EGC who made the decision to use Raytec illuminators. After testing was carried out to compare different manufacturers, the build quality and overall performance superiority of the Raytec illuminators established the Raytec VARIO i4 as the illuminator of choice.

“Night time testing was crucial for the customer,” Jefferson Valencia, EGC, explained. “The performance of the VARIO i4 was excellent and it delivered clear illumination to allow us to effectively capture licence plates in darkness. After trialing models from other manufacturers, we quickly assessed that Raytec was the only choice.”

The design allowed for the lights and LPR cameras to be integrated on top of the vehicle, allowing the cameras to get a perfect, illuminated shot of any plate. Raytec’s VARIO i4 units are equipped with holographic lensing with hot-spot reduction technology (HRT) providing a highly targeted and even light distribution for superior image quality and greater distances.

All VARIO illuminators can also be powered from any 12-24V battery, making them perfect for this mobile application. In addition, VARIO’s interchangeable lens system provided the flexibility needed to adjust the output angle of illumination whenever required to suit any scene; by simply slotting a different lens into the unit. Not possible with traditional fixed angle illuminators.

Having developed many bespoke CCTV solutions for the Colombian government, EGC recognized that the police force were facing the challenge of needing high quality and reliable mobile LPR illumination almost daily and have delivered a solution that the end user is delighted with. While the project started in the city of Bogota, the implementation of this Raytec lighting and LPR integration has been planned across Colombia.

Featured

  • Report: 47 Percent of Security Service Providers Are Not Yet Using AI or Automation Tools

    Trackforce, a provider of security workforce management platforms, today announced the launch of its 2025 Physical Security Operations Benchmark Report, an industry-first study that benchmarks both private security service providers and corporate security teams side by side. Based on a survey of over 300 security professionals across the globe, the report provides a comprehensive look at the state of physical security operations. Read Now

    • Guard Services
  • Identity Governance at the Crossroads of Complexity and Scale

    Modern enterprises are grappling with an increasing number of identities, both human and machine, across an ever-growing number of systems. They must also deal with increased operational demands, including faster onboarding, more scalable models, and tighter security enforcement. Navigating these ever-growing challenges with speed and accuracy requires a new approach to identity governance that is built for the future enterprise. Read Now

  • Eagle Eye Networks Launches AI Camera Gun Detection

    Eagle Eye Networks, a provider of cloud video surveillance, recently introduced Eagle Eye Gun Detection, a new layer of protection for schools and businesses that works with existing security cameras and infrastructure. Eagle Eye Networks is the first to build gun detection into its platform. Read Now

  • Report: AI is Supercharging Old-School Cybercriminal Tactics

    AI isn’t just transforming how we work. It’s reshaping how cybercriminals attack, with threat actors exploiting AI to mass produce malicious code loaders, steal browser credentials and accelerate cloud attacks, according to a new report from Elastic. Read Now

  • Pragmatism, Productivity, and the Push for Accountability in 2025-2026

    Every year, the security industry debates whether artificial intelligence is a disruption, an enabler, or a distraction. By 2025, that conversation matured, where AI became a working dimension in physical identity and access management (PIAM) programs. Observations from 2025 highlight this turning point in AI’s role in access control and define how security leaders are being distinguished based on how they apply it. Read Now

New Products

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities