NORFOLK, Va. — As automatic license plate cameras continue to pop up around the Commonwealth of Virginia, they could face state regulations due to action by the General Assembly.
Norfolk put up 172 license plate cameras around the city in 2023, which law enforcement has said has been a big asset.
“I’ve been a criminal lawyer almost 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like this; it is a true game changer,” Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatehi said. “I go to murder scenes. I’ve seen Norfolk Police solve murders using Flock, solve murders that would’ve gone nowhere without it.”
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The cameras take a picture of license plates, and then police can review the images in a database as an investigative tool. In Norfolk, the data is stored for 30 days.
“The way that it solves auto thefts when it used to take weeks and now it’s hours when someone is arrested is remarkable,” Fatehi adds.
News 3 has continued to follow up on the use of the cameras, including a still pending lawsuit against the city over privacy concerns.
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“There is an expectation of privacy in the whole of your movements,” said Michael Soyfer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice.
But now, there’s a push from the General Assembly to regulate the cameras for the first time at the state level. The bill would clarify the types of cases police can use the cameras for, including missing persons, human trafficking, or stolen cars. It would also require state permitting and data reporting on the use of the cameras.
“I think it strikes the right balance,” says Michael Kochis, a member of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police and police chief of the Charlottesville Police Department.
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“The bill is something that is needed; having guardrails for technology like this is really important in the area of public trust,” said Kochis.
Kochis stresses that there also needs to be “that one next step, that other layer of guardrails at the state level, to kind of say here’s some minimums.” The bill has failed to advance in previous years but could have more momentum this year.
“I’m a big believer in them, but a system that doesn’t have public trust is not going to be an optimal system,” said Fatehi.
