FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Since their installation in November, Fairfax County license plate readers have reportedly helped police recover 30 stolen vehicles and six firearms, aided in 50 arrests and helped locate four missing people.
According to the Fairfax County Police Department, in three of the four missing people cases, officers received an automatic alert when the person drove past one of the license plate readers. Those alerts led officers to begin searching those areas for the reported vehicles.
On March 7, the license plate readers helped police find a critically missing adult. The cameras led police to eventually learn the missing adult had gotten onto an area bus.
Officers were also able to use the license plate readers to help locate an older resident who had walked away from her home in Reston and reported missing. A witness saw the resident get onto an area bus and officers used the license plate readers to locate that bus. The woman was found shortly afterward.
On March 16, Fair Oaks Police officers and the Major Crimes Bureau teamed up to find an older woman who had driven away from and home and was reported missing. Detectives received an alert from a license plate reader when the woman's car passed by. They responded to the area and the woman was reunited with her family.
Fairfax County Police say a new tool helps solve crimes, but one civil liberties group is sounding the alarm.