Proponents claim public safety boons
Automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs, are widespread across our broadcast region and the nation. Harrisonburg is the latest local city to face pressure from grassroots groups to remove the technology from public streets. WMRA’s Randi B. Hagi reports in the first installment of a two-part series.
Law enforcement agencies have used ALPR technology for more than two decades. But as these cameras proliferate across the landscape, the artificial intelligence becomes more refined, and newer companies such as Flock Safety repeatedly end up in the news, the tide of public opinion has turned against the technology in some places. The cities of Staunton and Charlottesville ended their contracts with Flock late last year. An online petition to do the same in Harrisonburg now has more than 1,100 signatures. In other jurisdictions across the region, the cameras have been quietly embraced.
The Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office uses Axon-brand ALPRs mounted to deputies’ vehicles, as well as Flock cameras stationed in Edinburg, Toms Brook, and Woodstock. The town governments of Woodstock, Strasburg, Mount Jackson, and New Market have each installed their own ALPRs, too.
TIM CARTER: I can see why people would take the position that they’re uncomfortable with it or they don’t like the technology, but the technology is there and the technology is useful.
Sheriff Tim Carter explained that the ALPRs take images of vehicles and their license plates as they pass by, attempt to read the license plate number, and then cross-check that with state and national crime databases. For example, if a car was reported stolen, the sheriff’s office’s camera system would alert deputies if it ‘sees’ that license plate…