VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — If you've driven around Virginia Beach in the last month, you might've noticed some new cameras at busy intersections around the city.
Those cameras are the Virginia Beach Police Department's new license plate readers.
Cars are used in all types of crimes, from robberies to shootings to AMBER Alerts. Now in Virginia Beach, as cars drive past, these cameras are reading license plates.
According to Flock Safety, if one of its cameras spots a tag or a specific make or model of a car that is on a police department’s crime list, it alerts officers.
VBPD says it is working to install 25 of these Flock free-standing license plate readers. 19 are up and running so far, with six more on the way. The department confirms the system deletes license plate data after 30 days unless it is pinged as part of a criminal investigation.
But license plate readers are nothing new in Hampton Roads.
For the last 18 months, 215 Virginia Beach police cars have used automated license plate reader cameras in their cars.
Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth Suffolk and Chesapeake Police also use license plate readers. The system is part of a push to expand technology to help fight crime because many departments still deal with staffing shortages.
Each camera costs around $2,500 per year.
However, some groups have concerns about the privacy of it all.
The ACLU of Virginia sent a statement to 13News Now calling the camera system “invasive mass surveillance."
“ALPRs aren’t just any security cameras: they’re high-tech devices that would allow police to collect data on the destination of every car that drives by without requiring a warrant, even outside of Virginia. During the 2024 General Assembly session, lawmakers from both parties supported strict regulations. That’s because there’s no evidence that ALPRs reduce crime—but plenty of evidence that they open up Virginians to highly invasive mass surveillance," said Policy Director Chris Kaiser.