Sheriff outlines grant-funded license-plate camera plan for Route 29 and River Road

Nelson County Sheriff Embry told the Board of Supervisors on a technology proposal funded by the Virginia State Police HEAT program that his office plans to buy three license-plate–reading cameras to help detect and recover stolen vehicles and assist investigations.

The sheriff said the office received a $12,500 award and has negotiated to use the money to purchase three Flock Safety cameras. “What we’re looking to do with the $12,500 … is purchase three cameras,” Sheriff Embry said, adding that two would be placed on the U.S. 29 corridor (one northbound and one southbound) and a third on River Road (Route 6) near the 1600 block. He said private landowners along those corridors had granted permission for installations at specific locations.

The sheriff said the system would automatically scan license plates and alert deputies within about 30 seconds if a plate matched a stolen-vehicle entry in the state database. “If those license plate readers detect … a vehicle that has been entered as stolen, that information automatically goes to our office and the deputies’ terminals within their vehicle,” Embry said.

Embry said year one of the two-year contract would cost $12,500 (covered by the grant) and that a second-year fee of about $11,000 would be covered if the office again receives a HEAT grant next fiscal year; he said the department would return the camera equipment if no grant money is available for year two. He said he was not asking the board for county funding for the program at this time.

Board members asked about data access, retention and monitoring. Embry said alerts would be routed via state channels to the sheriff’s office and that state-level legislation under consideration will determine retention and other rules. “There’s a lot of legislature right now in the General Assembly … about how long that material stays within a database,” Embry said, and he said his office will consult the Commonwealth’s attorney once the legislation is final.

Several supervisors asked practical questions about coverage overlap with neighboring jurisdictions and how the cameras would interact with existing systems in Albemarle and Amherst counties. Embry said local placement narrows detections to Nelson County’s jurisdiction and complements, rather than replaces, neighboring agencies’ systems. He also told supervisors that other jurisdictions have reported success locating stolen vehicles and that the technology can assist investigations ranging from theft recovery to identifying vehicles of interest in violent-crime or missing-person investigations.

Embry said the cameras are a state vendor option and that the contract and grant deadlines require the department to move quickly; he also said he would update the board in writing on grant status and legislative developments.

Ending: The sheriff’s office did not request funding from the board at the meeting; supervisors asked for a written follow-up on grant applications and pending state legislation that could affect data retention and use.