A renewed Virginia statehouse pursuit would create statewide guidelines for data collected from license plate readers, including how it can be used.
License plate readers are already used by law enforcement agencies around the state. The devices are typically mounted on police vehicles, road signs or traffic lights to track drivers’ movements.
Despite its common use in the Old Dominion State, there is no statewide regulation for the technology.
Uses include identifying stolen vehicles and vehicles associated with missing or endangered persons or human trafficking. Some locations, including Arlington County, also use the devices to look for vehicles with unpaid personal property tax.
HB775 would set statewide regulations for law enforcement to use the devices on interstates and state highways.
One provision would limit the use of data collected from license plate readers for purposes related to active law enforcement investigations.
Data unrelated to an investigation must be deleted within 30 days.
Sen. Scott Surovell, D-34th district and the Senate majority leader, has said the bill provides a balance between the privacy of citizens and providing law enforcement continued access to the technology.
But the technology is not without flaws. Conditions including bad weather, poor lighting, dirt on plates and even background colors can result in false matches.
HB775 was introduced early this year. During the first year of the two-year legislative session, House lawmakers voted to advance the bill to the Senate. The session ended before it received attention in the chamber. As a result, the pursuit was continued to the 2025 regular session.
“… there’s no evidence that ALPRs reduce crime—but plenty of evidence that they open up Virginians to highly invasive mass surveillance,” says @chris__kaiser, ACLU-VA’s Policy Director.
Mass surveillance technologies make ALL Virginians less free.https://t.co/zIDKiUIWqD
— ACLU of Virginia (@ACLUVA) May 15, 2024
House Bill 920
Another House bill continued from the 2024 regular session covers requirements for the use of license plate readers.
HB920 would mandate that law enforcement agencies using the devices enter into an agreement with the license plate reader owner or other responsible entity to operate a data trust.
The data trust would be responsible for the storage of digital images and other data collected by a license plate reader and would require any law enforcement agency to apply to the data trust for access to that information.
Use of readers would be limited to scanning, detecting and identifying license plate numbers of vehicles involved in certain crimes. LL
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