MILDURA police are patrolling local streets for any vehicles registered to owners from Melbourne's restricted suburbs.

In response to the stage 3 stay-at-home directives that were initially issued by Victoria's Chief Health Officer to 10 postcodes in Melbourne areas, police across Victoria, including in Mildura, will be using automatic number plate recognition technology to scan car registration details and identify the residential addresses of licence holders.

Any vehicles registered to a suburb in one of the postcodes in complete lockdown can be detected by police if they are sighted travelling on roads in the Mildura police service area.

Local police said the detection was part of their role in ensuring the safety of the community in what was an already challenging time.