Automated License Plate readers, like the name-brand Flock Safety camera systems, were legalized in Virginia last year as a public safety measure. But a new report from the state has legislators concerned about how localities are using them, even as prosecutors praise their success.
According to a report from the Virginia State Crime Commission, some localities are not reporting how they use Automated License Plate readers, like Flock cameras, in their communities. They’re also sharing data those cameras collect with federal agencies in violation of state law. But the report itself does not list the offending localities.
It’s a problem for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell.
“These agencies better report them or else we might have to reconsider the entire program, even the cameras that are already in place,” Surovell told Radio IQ.
Concerns about data sharing and privacy have led some Virginia localities, like Charlottesville and Staunton to ditch agreements with camera companies. But for Norfolk’s progressive Commonwealth Attorney Rahim Fatehi, the systems have been a game changer, leading to dozens of successful prosecutions.
“Juries are not satisfied with the word of police officers and victims anymore; they want digital evidence," Fatehi told Radio IQ. "And if digital evidence doesn’t exist, they often punish us in our cases and acquit people who would have been convicted 20 years ago on similar evidence.”
Fatehi said he hadn’t seen the Crime Commission report, but if agencies are violating data sharing laws, they should face consequences for it.
“It’s no different than abusing the system that contains people’s criminal rap sheets. There are penalties, criminal penalties,” Fatehi said.
Southside Republican Senator Bill Stanley has long been an opponent of what he considered a problematic expansion of the surveillance state.
“I think what we’re seeing is the exact concern for why I’m not for these things, I think it's a huge invasion of personal privacy,” Stanley told Radio Iq.
But when it came to punishing local law enforcement agencies for violating laws around the data: “I don’t think anyone has to be prosecuted, I don’t know there’s criminal intent on their part.”
