A HIGH-TECH automatic number plate recognition system helped police catch more than 50 people breaking the law in just five hours yesterday.In a Ballarat first, police used the system during Operation Detection to automatically check vehicles for unlicensed drivers, unregistered or stolen vehicles, false number plates or anyone wanted for a crime.Out of the 3420 vehicles scanned in five hours along Gillies St, Wendouree, and Albert St, Sebastopol, there were 16 penalty notices issued for unregistered vehicles, 10 unlicensed drivers, one vehicle with stolen number plates and 27 other offences including unroadworthy vehicles and using mobile phones while driving.Sheriffs also worked with police, apprehending 62 people with outstanding fines totalling $17,000.The Ballarat Regional Response Unit ran the operation with the Automatic Number Plate Unit, Ballarat Traffic Management Unit, Goldfields Traffic Management Unit and Regional Traffic Tasking Unit.Ballarat RRU Constable Steve Atkinson described the operation as a success, given it was completed in five hours."The number of offenders is a concern, especially with unregistered vehicles getting around. We understand it's hard times for people to pay registrations but driving an unregistered vehicle creates issues,'' Const Atkinson said. "We ran the operation because, in contact with our intelligence unit, we had seen an increase in stolen vehicles so we thought we would use this (automatic number plate recognition system) to pick them up."Ballarat TMU is also responding to an amount of unlicensed people driving. We brought it down as a tool to see how it would go and hopefully it will be a deterrent.''Const Atkinson said offenders thought the system was a speed camera.He said it would be used in the future at events including the Ballarat Show and Ballarat Cup.Victoria Police introduced the system in November last year. It is currently in the enforcement phase of the trial. The system can scan 25,000 vehicles in one hour, shooting across two to three lanes.