WASHINGTON — A bill to limit how much data police collect from sources like license plate readers, and how long they can keep it, has just been approved by Virginia’s state Senate.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, and Sen. Dick Black, R-Loudoun, would generally restrict mass collection of personal data by police or state agencies in Virginia unless the data is known to be relevant and “intended for prompt evaluation”.
Petersen argued that the bill reflects Virginia’s history of standing up to police overreach in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, including the right against general warrants.
“Times have changed and technologies have changed and there have become new ways to collect information by law enforcement, and even if used for the best of purposes, they still require some type of oversight,” Petersen said on the Senate floor.
Police agencies say the technologies can help locate missing people, solve crimes and more.
The bill would allow law enforcement to continue to use license plate readers, but limit the way that the data collected could be stored and used.
It requires police only keep the data for seven days or less unless it is part of an ongoing investigation, and that they do not allow any use of the data except as part of a criminal investigation or missing persons report.
Petersen says clearly, in situations like the disappearance of U. Va. student Hannah Graham, investigators could keep license plate reader data to help with an investigation.
“LPRs are pernicious in my opinion if they are not restricted, because the bottom line is you can use that to collect information on people, and you have the ability to target where you want to collect that information. You can take that LPR to a political rally, you can take it to a movie theater, you can take it to a public gun show, you can take it where you want to decide where you’re going to look for people that have violated the law,” Petersen says.
The bill passed on a unanimous 38-0 vote, and now goes to the House of Delegates.
Also on Friday, the state senate approved Black’s bill that would scrap Virginia’s A-F school grading system and a bill that would require even small day cares in Virginia that get child care subsidies to be licensed.
The Senate narrowly rejected a bill that would impose stricter limits on the release of balloons in the commonwealth. It was aimed at cutting litter and protecting wildlife, but opponents argued the bill was overregulation.
