Cameras will be watching almost every vehicle entering and leaving Brighton and Hove in a £500,000 crime-cracking initiative.

The system will automatically read registration plates and identify any vehicle wanted by police in connection with motoring, criminal or terrorist activities.

Suspect vehicles will be stopped and drivers questioned.

The system will go live in March and will be one of the first of its kind in the country.

More schemes are planned for other major towns and roads in Sussex over the next two years and Sussex Police believe eventually most of England and Wales will be covered.

Sixteen cameras are being placed at seven strategic locations on the edges of Brighton and Hove, on main feeder roads and on some "rat run" side roads, used by drivers to beat traffic jams.

Police are reluctant to divulge camera locations to stop criminals finding "safe" routes but they confirmed main arteries, including the A23 and A27, would be covered.

Locations could be switched if police want to focus on other roads and they believe very few vehicles will enter or leave the city without being seen.

The Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)

system was used temporarily in the city last year during the Labour Party conference and resulted in 100 drivers being arrested for offences including disqualified driving, burglary, drunk and disorderly, drugs, drunk in charge and theft of petrol.

An ANPR team using mobile cameras has been operating at different locations in Sussex for two years but this is the first time an entire city will be ringed by a static system.

Police are urging all drivers to keep their paperwork up to date because the cameras will also pick up any untaxed and unregistered vehicles.

With more than 350 CCTV cameras in Sussex - below the national per capita average and 120 speed and traffic-light cameras, Sussex Police were asked whether this was another "Big Brother" initiative.

Chief Inspector Lawrence Hobbs, in charge of the scheme, said: "I understand peoples concerns but this is purely a crime-fighting tool and the vast majority of drivers have nothing to fear.

"Law-abiding citizens will not be stopped - we are only interested in criminals using vehicles which have been stolen or used in crime.

"ANPR has tremendous potential for the police in terms of crime detection, crime reduction, intelligence gathering, national security and many other law enforcement purposes.

"It will be used as a crimefighting tool, to deny criminals the use of the roads.

"It will also be used to identify those who are wanted or committing crime.

"I believe it will be a truly valuable asset in tackling crime in the city."