surveillance

noun4

1. •
   the act of keeping close watch on people who may have broken the law

   • The surveillance program includes at least 480 LPRs that scan and record about 16.2 million vehicles per week and stores that data for two years, he wrote in the court filing. — 2023
2. •
   Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example.
3. •
   Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.

   • Cook was making an impassioned plea to end the technology industry’s collection and sale of user data. “This is surveillance,” he continued. — 2019
4. •
   In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.