RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia lawmakers are considering regulating the use of automatic license plate readers in the Commonwealth during next year’s general assembly session.
Automatic license plate readers are cameras that are placed by local law enforcement agencies that capture a photo or video of a vehicle and its license plate. That photo or video along with the vehicle’s location, make and model, as well as the date and time the image was taken is then uploaded to a database.
“The idea is that this is a tool in the toolbox to help find those people who have committed crimes so we can hold them accountable,” said Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor.
Last week, the State Crime Commission heard from stakeholders as they grapple with how to regulate the new technology.
“We have also heard instances where law enforcement officers are using this technology to stalk former partners, so this technology has real harms,” said Ruby Cherian, an attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center.
However, Taylor said the technology has been instrumental in catching violent criminals.
“Whether or not there has been someone who has been shooting from a vehicle, or whether there has been a crime where people have just done a violent crime, just getting into a vehicle like a robbery,” Taylor said.
Currently, there are no state laws regulating the use of automatic license plate readers in Virginia, something Cherian said needs to change. She said to ensure it isn’t being misused, there needs to be a law requiring the data to be deleted after a certain period of time, and to require law enforcement to get a search warrant before reviewing certain data.
“Really what’s important there is to have a third party that’s able to check and make sure that we don’t have misuse or abuse by law enforcement agencies and this private company that is holding this data,” Cherian said.
The State Crime Commission will meet again in December to discuss potential regulations before the 2025 General Assembly Session begins in January.