Portsmouth expanding surveillance network

Police to employ gunshot detection, license plate readers

PORTSMOUTH — The city’s police department is upgrading its camera technology and installing gunshot detection software and license plate readers in efforts to deter crime and reduce response times.

A new integrated camera system called Fusus is expected to go live within the next few weeks. It will plug into the nearly 400 cityowned traffic and surveillance cameras already in operation.

The department also is working to install portable automated license plate reader cameras and gunshot detection software through Flock Safety. Police say once active, the technology will be able to detect reported stolen vehicles and trigger an alert to officers in the area with vehicle and travel information. The gunshot detection software will cover about a little more than 3 miles and will activate all cameras in the area when gunfire is detected.

About $1.3 million from the city’s share of federal pandemic relief funds will help cover the cost of the project, in addition to the installation of more cameras in city-owned parking garages, for example. Portsmouth Police spokesperson Victoria Varnedoe told The Virginian-Pilot some costs are still being estimated, but the two software systems will rely on about $325,000 of annual funding from the budget.

“We’re working on this new technology,” Varnedoe said. “It is coming and we are very close to getting it put together and operational.”

Once installed, the information from Fusus will feed into Portsmouth’s real-time crime center — another project in the works. In a September presentation to City Council, Police Chief Stephen Jenkins said the center could be staffed at all times with employees and volunteers who have graduated from the department’s Citizens Academy.

He also called the technology a “force multiplier” as the department struggles with staffing shortages. He said the software will help officers more accurately detect when and where crime is occurring, improve response times and monitor the city during special events.

Capt. R. Ferrell told The Pilot he expects it to be a crime deterrent, and added that the department is asking residents and business owners if they want to register their cameras into the system.

Other cities in Hampton Roads have deployed similar gunshot detection systems and license plate readers. Adoption of the technology hasn’t been without some controversy, however, as privacy advocates have argued the license plate reader technology gives law enforcement the ability to track motorists’ every move.

Matt Callahan, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Virginia, said such technology is an “unfortunate and often unnecessary” use of public dollars. Among the biggest concerns is the use of such data to illegitimately enforce criminal laws, he said.

“Generally speaking, the ACLU opposes the expansion of surveillance technologies by and large,” Callahan told The Pilot. “(One) of the initiatives that the ACLU has been behind is a movement to pass local ordinances that require law enforcement agencies that want to gain new surveillance technology to go to the public and ask for public input about the use of the technology and what kind of safeguards should be in place ... The absence of public buy-in to surveillance technology really has the potential to make us all less safe.”

A bill made its way out of the House of Delegates on Tuesday that would require the Commonwealth Transportation Board to regulate license plate reader systems on state- or city-owned highways and delete most of the data stored after 30 days unless it’s being used in an active law enforcement investigation.

Jenkins previously said Portsmouth’s license plate reader data, managed by

Flock Safety, will be purged after 30 days.

“We don’t retain any data when it comes to license plates or people’s personal information regarding that,” he said.

Varnedoe emphasized that registering into the Fusus system is optional. She said officers could monitor the city’s cameras in real time, but permission would be needed to access footage from the cameras of residents and business owners.

As part of a separate initiative, residents can currently register their cameras in a video sharing partnership by visiting the department’s website and clicking on “Surveillance Camera Mapping Program” under the “Crime” tab on the homepage.