Court Finds Norfolk’s License Plate Cameras Are Constitutional

Norfolk, Va. defeated a proposed class action alleging its police department violated the Fourth Amendment by using automated license plate readers to track individuals’ movements without warrants.

The Norfolk police department’s system didn’t cross the line into unconstitutionally intrusive surveillance of the whole of the plaintiffs’ physical movements, Judge Mark S. Davis of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said Tuesday.

Surveillance by automatic license plate readers could run afoul of constitutional privacy standards “someday,” but that point hadn’t yet been reached in Norfolk, he said.

Davis granted the city’s motion for summary judgment, and denied ...