ALPRs Help Stop Kidnappings: ALPRs work by utilizing public safety resources like the FBI’s National Crime Information Center, federal and state hotlists, and AMBER alerts to send real-time notifications to nearby law enforcement officials when a wanted or stolen vehicle is detected. ALPRs Remove Human Bias From Suspecting: As eyewitness testimony has been proven to be vulnerable to personal bias, the use of this technology serves as a tool to eliminate prejudices in identifying crime suspects. By removing human-bias from the equation, ALPRs help officers execute the law more efficiently and fairly. ALPRs Are A Force Multiplier For Law Enforcement: In a time when law enforcement agencies are stretched thin and officer recruitment is trending down, crime-solving technology can serve as a force multiplier for police departments. Many Virginia localities including Alexandria, Virginia Beach, Richmond, and Staunton are already utilizing automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to assist in investigations. Vehicle Data Is Only Stored For 30 Days: ALPRs work by accessing publicly available vehicle information, specifically license place data, to help officers make arrests and recover stolen property. Proposed regulation in Virginia would ensure data gathered by license plate readers is only stored for 30 days – ample time for officers to catch criminals while still maintaining critical privacy protections for Virginians.

This bill on surveillance is absolutely unacceptable. We are already living in a surveilled police state and we don’t need to go any further. Everyone deserves a right to privacy and no good could possible come from this. Surveillance will always target Black and brown and queer people more than anyone else and no one should stand for this, especially not ‘progressives.’ I urge everyone to not support this bill.

Good afternoon, I am a citizen of Loudoun County and wanted to express my serious concerns with HB2724 sponsored by Delegate Herring. When it comes to technology we are at a very very dangerous time when we need to deeply consider ALL possible ramifications of tech surveillance and potential uses of AI. We truly do not know yet what the consequences of widespread use of this technology could be, and many many AI models have already been shown to display racial and other biases. Privacy is also a concern, what guarantee do we have that local law enforcement wouldn't abuse the power given to them with this mandate? Especially with changes happening on a federal level, and the fear many community members across Virginia have that state and local law enforcement organizations may be asked to violate constitutional rights. Many organizations, including the Legal Aid Justice Center, New Virginia Majority, the Virginia Grassroots Coalition, ACLU of Virginia and more have expressed grave concerns about this bill and the way it could potentially be interpreted. Please err on the side of caution and protection for our communities by voting no on HB 2724.

Harrisonburg is a cautionary tale on Cameras. In May of 2023, the current Vice Mayor moved to approve camera technology, dismissing privacy concerns in favor of a quantitatively dubious appeal to safety. In September, HPD received an award for using license plate readers to defeat a "spike" in car thefts (already near the bottom nationally, they dipped during COVID and partially rebounded-- statistical noise, not a "spike") . Less than a year later, 25,000 tickets had been issued to a population of 55,000 and hundred dollar speed camera tickets had become the city's fastest growing source of revenue. In April of 2024, the CEO of the camera company defied a council member when he pressed her about the company's profit motives when they had to come before council to answer customer service complaints, made excuses about no one being "flawless," and derided aggrieved residents as "one of the 13 who had a problem." On May 31, WHSV ran a story on the Chief resigning to move to a community of 8,000 and on June 1st, on 1400 tickets being invalidated and refunded after an apparent pro se challenge. Trust in law enforcement is vital. Legislators should provide guardrails on complex issues to protect that trust. In this case, please say no to mass surveillance.

The Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police supports HB 2724, the bill to regulate law enforcement use of license plate readers. The police chiefs worked closely with the Crime Commission to address public and law enforcement concerns about the use of LPRs. This bill addresses uniform use of LPRs, record-keeping, data protection and appropriate use in criminal investigations, It provides for transparency and guardrails to ensure proper and limited use of LPRs. We thank Delegate Herring and the Crime Commission for the hard work to develop very responsible and practicable license plate reader legislation.

Mass surveillance hurts low income communities the worse. Vote no to this bill.

This bill will allow law enforcement to use photos from ALPRs for any “active criminal investigation”. “Active criminal investigation” is not a term defined in Virginia law. The bill will connect the surveillance to a nationwide database accessible to other states and the Federal Government. Such surveillance is a glaring violation of our privacy and absolutely unacceptable to provide such broad powers to law enforcement. Further, this information would likely be provided to private companies and contractors. Law-abiding citizens should be able to go about their day without fear of draconian surveillance of their private lives. Unless and until the term “active criminal investigation” is defined with narrow and specific intent, this bill must not be passed into law.