Apparatus, systems and methods for enhanced visual inspection of vehicle interiors

A method for establishing records for use in identifying individual occupants in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

• recording one or more images of individual occupants of at least one vehicle, wherein the one or more images are taken through a window of the at least one vehicle;
• associating the recorded one or more images with at least one vehicle identifier pertaining to the at least one vehicle;
• and
• storing the one or more images in a computer database.

An entry control system, comprising:

• a camera having a lens facing a field of view;
• an illumination device for illuminating the field of view;
• at least one data storage device operable to store one or more images of at least one vehicle occupant and at least one vehicle identifier;
• at least one computer processor operable to execute computer-readable instructions to associate the one or more images of at least one vehicle occupant with at least one vehicle identifier, and to retrieve the one or more images upon detection of a vehicle in the field of view of the camera, wherein the detected vehicle has a present vehicle identifier matching at least one vehicle identifier stored in the at least one data storage device.