All 61 automated plate readers in Alexandria will go dark inside 48 hours, with the hardware gone by December, city manager Jim Parajon told the council Tuesday night, ALXnow reported.
That ends a 2023 agreement with the police department, reached after months of public pressure over how long data is kept and who outside Virginia receives it. Mayor Alyia Gaskins told the room that residents had settled the question of whether the vendor should stay.
What the department loses
Police chief Tarrick McGuire asked for time to capture evidence before the system closes. His officers ran nearly 21,000 plate queries in the year to August 2026, which directly produced 72 felony and 65 misdemeanor charges.
Set against the 2,694 criminal arrests made in that period, those charges come to roughly 5%. Supporters of the cameras read that ratio as proof of value; critics read it as the price of a dragnet.
Parajon said any future surveillance tool will need council approval first, with staff returning on November 10 to draft guidance for vetting new systems. Speed and red light cameras sit outside Tuesday’s vote.
Neighbours already moved
Arlington County and Fairfax County have voted to discontinue or suspend their own programmes, and the Fairfax school board barred plate readers from campuses. Virginia restricts sharing to state and local agencies, though concerns persist that another department could relay queries on.
Council member Abdel Elnoubi framed the vote as a refusal to normalize surveillance of residents who have done nothing wrong.
