Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2025. This installment: an update on a grant program that helps pay for surveillance technology.
The Virginia State Police awarded nearly $1.43 million in equipment grants to 112 law enforcement agencies in fiscal 2025, which ended June 30.
Seventy-five percent of those grants went toward license plate reader hardware or services.
Other requests included supplies to etch vehicle identification numbers to car windows, tents and supplies for community events, and attendance at theft-prevention conferences.
The Help Eliminate Auto Theft equipment reimbursement grant, which is funded by a state assessment on auto insurance policies, has grown since its inception in 2022 and now makes up about a third of the theft prevention program’s annual budget.
A Cardinal News investigation published in June found that most applications to a Virginia State Police grant program to help law enforcement agencies prevent and reduce auto theft asked for license plate reader technology or services.
In fiscal year 2024, 83 law enforcement agencies submitted applications; 69 of those were for license plate readers or related services. Ultimately, 48 agencies received reimbursements.
Fiscal 2025 was the first year the state police had budgeted $1.5 million for the grants, a half-million more than the allocation for fiscal 2024. The grant program accounts for about one-third of the agency’s budget for the Help Eliminate Auto Theft program.
For fiscal year 2026, the state police has again allocated $1.5 million for equipment reimbursement grants, but reduced the maximum award from $12,500 to $10,000 per qualifying law enforcement agency.
“This annual initiative has proven to be very successful as more than 250 agencies have been able to take advantage of this funding,” Superintendent Matthew Hanley wrote in a letter to law enforcement agencies on July 1. “I am especially pleased to see that, in part due to this funding, motor vehicle thefts decreased again last year, clearly indicating that this initiative has had a meaningful and measurable impact in communities across the state.”
Virginia saw a 26% decrease in vehicle thefts in the first two quarters of 2025 compared to the same period a year prior, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Nationwide, vehicle thefts fell 23% over the same period.
Virginia State Police has not published an annual report of crime statistics for calendar year 2024; it was due to the General Assembly on Oct. 1.
The most recent report available online covers the 2023 calendar year. An online portal for crime statistics maintained by the Virginia State Police only includes auto theft data through 2023.
Debates about the appropriate uses of LPR systems continue as the tools gain popularity among law enforcement agencies.
A new Virginia law limits the use of license plate readers to certain investigations. It also reduced the amount of time LPR data can be retained, down to 21 days from the previous 30 days.
Police and border patrol have recently used LPR systems to monitor protests around the nation, according to reporting from 404 Media, an independent technology publication.
In November, a judge in Skagit County, Washington, declared that images captured by Flock license plate readers can be requested through public records requests. That case was filed in response to an Oregon resident filing requests for Flock images from several law enforcement agencies in Washington. Two cities denied his requests, then sued the man in civil court and turned off their Flock systems.