Get the latest tech news

I asked police to send me their public surveillance footage of my car

Anyone might wonder how often they are caught on police cameras that operate 24/7. I spent a day driving, and over a month trying to get the answer.

It’s not the opening line of a joke; it’s what I saw as I was working on an early draft of this story in March at the Staunton Dunkin’, about a quarter mile from where my vehicle was captured on a Flock camera in January and February coming back from my trips to Cardinal’s Roanoke office. So I took a daylong drive across Cardinal Country and asked 15 law enforcement agencies, using Freedom of Information Act requests, to provide me with the Flock LPR footage of my vehicle. Yet just glancing at the footage I have included in this story, it’s also a little creepy to see how as few as four to six pictures, properly time- and date-stamped, can establish patterns that could enable someone to know with some likelihood how they could intercept me on my way to work one morning.

Get the Android app