Portsmouth County

County record. Includes every city and agency within Portsmouth County.

5 Deployments on record

1 Agencies

5 Technology categories

Technology presence

ALPR · 1 Fixed cameras & RTCC · 1 Face recognition · none on record Drones / UAS · none on record Gunshot detection · 1 Body-worn & dashcam · 1 Doorbell & camera registry · 1 Cell-site simulators · none on record Predictive policing · none on record Social-media monitoring · none on record

What these categories mean

ALPR: Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
Fixed cameras & RTCC: Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
Face recognition: Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
Drones / UAS: Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
Gunshot detection: Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
Body-worn & dashcam: Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
Doorbell & camera registry: Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
Cell-site simulators: Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
Predictive policing: Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
Social-media monitoring: Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.

The record, by agency

Portsmouth Police Department

Portsmouth · 5 deployments · last documented May 2023 · on UnGovr: City of Portsmouth

ALPR Vendor: Axon, Flock Safety

The Portsmouth Police Department installed 60 Flock Safety automated license plate readers throughout the city in 2023. The agency also installed Axon ALPR systems in patrol cars.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): 13 News

Doorbell & camera registry Vendor: Fusus

The Portsmouth Police Department has partnered with Fusus to set up a camera registry containing public and private cameras.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Fusus

Fixed cameras & RTCC

The Portsmouth Police Department operates a real-time crime center.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): www.portsmouthva.gov Virginia Pilot

Gunshot detection Vendor: Shotspotter

The Portsmouth Police Department uses gunshot detection technology.

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): www.portsmouthva.gov Virginia Pilot

Body-worn & dashcam Vendor: Axon

The Portsmouth Police Department acquired Axon body-worn cameras in 2015

Sources (via the EFF Atlas): The Virginian Pilot Axon Portsmouth Police Department Facebook

Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026