[Scan-DC] VSP video cameras on car

[Andrew Clegg]

Yesterday afternoon while driving back to town on I-66, I spotted a Virginia 
State Police car with what looked like two security cameras mounted on the 
roof. The car was "unmarked," but with flashing lights in the front and back 
windows, several antennas, and a uniformed VSP officer driving it. The car 
was patrolling the construction zone out near exit 43 (the last exit for Rt 
29), where they are adding lanes.

The cameras looked like commercial video surveillance cameras (about the 
length of a shoebox and maybe half the cross-section), were mounted on the 
top of the roof roughly over the driver's and passenger's seats, and each 
was pointed out at an angle of about 45 deg to either side of the car.

This was the first time I had seen anything like it. A Google search pulled 
up a news article on an Australian (!) security company's site 
(http://www.footprintsecurity.com.au/z_art_080802_Cruiser-Top_Cameras_Make_Police_Snap.php), 
showing something like this being used in Maryland, which catches 
infractions as minor as failed emissions tests. The article also mentions 
that Virginia is using them, but the embedded link is broken.

I wonder if the license plate database is installed on the trooper's laptop, 
or whether it has to radio the data back and forth to HQ?

The VSP trooper on I-66 passed me, and I guess I was clean!

Andy