New Tech Helped Police Locate Former Fairfax Supervisor Cathy Hudgins

FAIRFAX, VA — A new device that lets law enforcement officers track stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, and wanted persons helped Fairfax County Police to locate three out of four people recently reported missing, including a former member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Former Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine Hudgins was reported missing on March 7. The 79-year-old was last seen at 1:20 p.m. leaving the 2200 block of Colts Neck Road in Reston, according to a post on FCPD's Facebook page.

Once the missing endangered person's alert began to spread through the Reston community, a witness told police they had seen Hudgins standing near a bus stop.

Using their Flock Safety License Plate Reader, police were able to identify the buses that had passed by the bus stop when Hudgins was said to be there. A supervisor from the Reston Police District recognized the bus number, which led them to the bus driver, who provided information that helped locate Hudgins.

On March 16, officers from FCPD's Major Crimes Bureau and the Fair Oaks Police District used the LPR system to locate an elderly woman who had driven away from her home and had been missing for several hours.

After police entered the license plate of the vehicle the woman was driving in the LPR system, a stationary LPR camera alerted them to the area where the license plate had been detected. A patrol officer was able to stop the vehicle the woman was driving and helped to reunite her with family members, according to the release.

The Flock Safety LPR system does not alert police to any infractions associated with the vehicle's registration, driver's license violations or suspensions, or unpaid parking tickets, according to police.

The license-plate reader cameras do not collect any personal information about the driver, according to a police release. Photos from the camera are stored in a cloud server for 30 days and then permanently deleted. During that time, the photos cannot be sold, monetized or shared with other police jurisdictions.

"The FCPD has chosen not to get alerts for violations regarding immigration status and does not share information to federal authorities regarding their investigations into immigration enforcement," according to an FCPD blog post.

More information about the Flock Safety LPR system is available online.