VIPD Anticipates Hundreds of Electronic Eyes to Fight Crime

Senators met on Monday to discuss a bill that will provide for an automatic license plate reader system to be utilized throughout the territory. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Novelle Francis, Jr. and Franklin Johnson.

Bill 34-0142 states that it will provide for the use of an ALPR system to collect and store captured images and license plate data to be used as crime-fighting tools throughout the Virgin Islands. It will allow for the police department as well as the Virgin Islands Bureau of Information Technology to develop and maintain its database system. The ALPRs will enforce motor carrier laws, investigate any potential crime or criminal activity, conduct traffic analysis and assess planning needs, and be used for research and educational purposes.

Barbara Jackson-McIntosh, Director of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Jonathan Tucker, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Information Technology, Eric Chancellor, Virgin Islands Deputy Attorney General, and Ray A. Martinez, Police Commissioner of Virgin Islands Police Department, were present to testify. All testifiers agreed to the implementation of the ALPR system. Attorney Chancellor, however, noted that the system has been used in at least sixteen states on the mainland and that there have been legal challenges with it. He said that the challenges were based on issues such as a violation of one’s civil rights, sufficiency of the evidence, and the retention of license plate data.

“The majority of complaints arise when the defendant claims that they were wrongfully stopped as a result,” said Chancellor.