What kind of surveillance record do you leave behind on your commute?

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech.

I'm Megan McCarty Carrino.

Surveillance technology, like automated license plate readers, have become commonplace in policing.

Federal data show most large departments use the systems, which record 24-7 images of traffic wherever the cameras are stationed.

They've made it easier to locate stolen vehicles or

track suspects, but they've also raised concerns about civil liberties. A recent investigation

from the nonprofit Cardinal News found that out of 100 law enforcement agencies in

Southern Virginia, 81 of them used some kind of public-facing surveillance tech.

So executive editor Jeff Schwanner decided to test it out. He took a 300-mile drive through

the state to see how often his car was captured. It's part of Cardinal News series,

State of Surveillance. Martinsville has quite a few cameras. They only captured me once. Stanton captured me

at two different points, exit points and entrance points to the city. Lynchburg captured me once

near Liberty University. Rowanoke captured me a couple times from a couple different places,

which is when you're first getting into the city off of 581.

However, you know, another use for these cameras is to kind of blanket them around the neighborhood

where you think there's going to be a lot of crime occurring.

And, of course, that creates civil rights questions and stuff like that.

I didn't purposefully go and try to look for, to like drive through those neighborhoods

where I thought they might be.

Was it more often or less often than you expected?

You know, in some ways it was less often because in Roanoke, I did drive around the city.

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