This week the Danville Police Department put into operation a 21-camera fixed Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR or LPR) system. The implementation of this project was made possible through partnership and funding from the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. The system will provide our officers with real-time alerting of hotlisted vehicles to locate missing, wanted, and endangered persons and associated vehicles. Additionally, the reads can be queried to help solve crimes after they have occurred. The cameras are installed along public roadways and work by capturing license plate and vehicle characteristics such as make, model, and color and comparing that against law enforcement hotlists. Queries of LPR system reads, which are only maintained for 30 days, may only be made with documented justification for legitimate law enforcement purposes. The use of the system is controlled by policy and is verifiable through an auditing process.
A webpage has been created with information related to the Danville Police Department’s deployment of LPR technology and can be viewed by clicking here. On the site users will find an LPR location map, department policy, and link to a transparency portal with additional information such as acceptable and prohibited uses, and access and hotlist policy. The LPR system that we have deployed is from Flock Safety, which has also implemented systems throughout our region and across the Commonwealth of Virginia.