Remove License Plate Reader Cameras From Our Communities in Wise & Lee County, Virginia

Protect Our Privacy. Protect Our Rights.

Across Wise County, Virginia — and now proposed for Lee County — automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras have been installed throughout our community without meaningful public input or consent. These cameras track the movements of every single vehicle that passes by, storing data that can reveal where we live, where we work, when we leave home, when we return, and every place we travel.

In some areas, these cameras have been placed on roads with only one entrance and one exit. This means an individual’s movements can be completely monitored:

Who is home and who isn’t
When someone arrives or leaves
Patterns of daily life
Sensitive travel, such as medical appointments, church, political meetings, or visits to friends and family

This is a massive invasion of privacy.

Why This Matters

ALPR cameras create a government-controlled tracking system of innocent citizens. This information, if misused or accessed by the wrong individuals, can cause irreversible harm.

If corrupt law enforcement misuses this system:

They can track individuals’ movements without warrants, probable cause, or accountability.

If hackers gain access.

They could exploit this sensitive location data for stalking, burglary, extortion, identity theft, or harassment.

If corporations store or sell data:

Our private lives become commodities.

We are told these cameras help “stop crime.” But police do not prevent crime — they respond after it occurs. That means these cameras would also only be used after something happens, using data collected by violating the rights of thousands of innocent people every single day.

No safety measure should ever come at the expense of our constitutional rights, our privacy, or our freedom to move without government surveillance.

Our Communities Deserve a Say

These cameras are not simply traffic tools. They are surveillance devices capable of long-term tracking of the everyday lives of ordinary citizens. Their installation should have required full transparency, public debate, and community approval — none of which occurred.

We Demand the Removal of ALPR Cameras From Wise County, and We Oppose Their Installation in Lee County

We call on local officials, county boards, and law enforcement agencies to:

Immediately remove all ALPR cameras currently installed in Wise County.
Reject any proposals to install these cameras in Lee County.
Prohibit the use of surveillance technologies that track citizens without warrants or due process.
Publicly disclose how long data has been stored, who has access, and whether any third parties handle this information.

Our privacy is not optional. Our rights are not negotiable. Our community deserves transparency, safety, and respect — not mass surveillance.

Sign this petition if you believe our movements should NOT be tracked, monitored, stored, or analyzed without our knowledge or consent.

Together, we can protect our rights and demand accountability from those who are sworn to serve us, not watch us. 

Constitutional Basis for Privacy and Why ALPR Cameras Are a Threat Although the word “privacy” does not appear explicitly in the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized that the Constitution protects an individual’s right to privacy from government overreach. This protection comes from several amendments, especially the Fourth Amendment , which guards citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures .

🔹 Fourth Amendment – Protection From Surveillance The Fourth Amendment states that people have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable government intrusion.
Modern courts have ruled that this includes privacy in your movements , because tracking a person’s location over time creates a detailed picture of their life.
 • In Katz v. United States (1967) , the Court held that the Fourth Amendment protects people wherever they have a reasonable expectation of privacy .
 • In Carpenter v. United States (2018) , the Court ruled that long-term tracking of a person’s movements (such as phone location) requires a warrant because it invades personal privacy. License plate reader cameras create the same problem. They can record every time a driver enters or leaves a neighborhood, follows their daily routines, or even shows when someone is home or away. This is especially dangerous on roads with only one entrance or exit , because it allows complete monitoring of an individual’s movements.

🔹 First, Third, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments – Implied Privacy Rights The Supreme Court has held that personal privacy is also implied through several constitutional protections:
 • First Amendment – privacy in personal beliefs, associations, and activities
 • Third Amendment – privacy in the home
 • Fifth Amendment – privacy of personal information
 • Ninth Amendment – protection of rights not explicitly written
 • Fourteenth Amendment – personal liberty and autonomy

These protections together form a constitutional foundation that the government cannot monitor its citizens without limits .

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📣 Why This Matters for Our County ALPR cameras:
 • Track innocent people without warrants
 • Create long-term databases of residents’ movements
 • Make it possible for corrupt officials to monitor when people are home or not
 • Eliminate the basic privacy we expect in a free society

Constant surveillance is not compatible with the privacy protections guaranteed by the Constitution