BREAKING: Henrico cancels Flock Safety contract
The Henrico County Division of Police is terminating its contract with Flock Safety as the result of "privacy concerns about the company’s system of automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras," according to a statement released by the county Tuesday morning.
“As a county, we have listened as our residents have shared legitimate concerns about Flock Safety, the proliferation of its cameras across the nation and whether the data collected is sufficiently safeguarded to protect the privacy of individuals in our community,” said Henrico Board of Supervisors Chair Roscoe D. Cooper III, of the Fairfield District. “While we are confident that Henrico Police has used ALPR data appropriately for legitimate law-enforcement purposes only, we cannot ignore the potential for misuse of system data by others. Ending this contract is the right thing to do for our residents and community.”
The police division intends to terminate the contract within seven days, according to the county's statement. During the same period of time, officials will review "other options that will continue the division’s operational effectiveness," officials said.
Henrico has partnered with Flock since 2022, through a series of renewable one-year contracts – the most recent of which was authorized July 24 for a one-year period that was set to begin Nov. 15, according to Henrico Police spokesperson Karina Bolster. That year was to be the final renewable year of the original contract, whose terms called for a yearly fee of $2,500 per camera, as well as a one-time $350-per-camera installation charge.
It was not immediately clear whether the county would incur any charge for ending the contract after it had authorized another full year.
A total of 128 Flock cameras were in use by police throughout the county as of Aug. 11 (122 stationary, 6 mobile). They were placed based on crime trends and the number of residents in each area, according to Henrico Police Chief Eric English.
In August, Henrico revoked 10 fire investigators’ access to the police division's Flock system after determining that they had accessed it in a way that violated a Virginia law that took effect last year.
In a social media post Tuesday morning, Three Chopt District Supervisor Misty Roundtree, who had previously, and publicly, expressed concerns about the Flock system, wrote in part "I am so proud that as a Board we had the hard conversations leading to this right result!"
Later, Roundtree posted that she did not believe that termination of the Flock contract would compromise public safety in the county "nor do I believe that supporting law enforcement and supporting the rights of. our residents are mutually exclusive goals. Our Board is insistent on both."
Roundtree also wrote that while she personally believes that ALPR technology is "fatally flawed" and does not support a switch to a different provider, the overall five-person board "has not arrived at that conclusion at this time. But it is an ongoing discussion, and as always, your voices matter!"
Roundtree: ‘mixed feelings’ among Henrico leaders about Flock termination
In a video posted to social media later on Tuesday, Roundtree said that the board of supervisors and other Henrico officials had engaged in a “long, difficult discussion” on the county’s involvement with Flock for “quite some time.”
While Roundtree said she felt “ecstatic” about the county’s decision to terminate the contract, she said other officials had been more supportive of the Flock technology.
“I really didn’t know how it would ultimately end up. There were certainly times during this discussion path that it didn’t feel like we were going to get to [the] point where we are today,” she said. “We had really hard discussions at times that were uncomfortable, pushed us to consider things from different perspectives. And frankly there are, I still think, mixed feelings about it in Henrico leadership in general.”
Roundtree said that she believed Henrico leadership would not be able to set enough parameters for the use of Flock data that would protect residents’ privacy. She also said that she does not believe crime data supports the notion that Flock cameras are a “gamechanger” for solving crime, despite statements from English citing Flock as “one of the best investigative tools” for the department.
Henrico officials have not made a decision on whether the county will pursue a contract with another ALPR company and will take the next week to explore “other options.” While the board of supervisors is in charge of allocating annual funding and does not typically dictate what departments can or cannot purchase with that funding, Roundtree said that the board may take a “new approach” when it comes to ALPR contracts with HPD.
“This is essentially new territory…We are in a new realm with this technology that I believe warrants a new approach,” Roundtree said. “I feel confident saying that the ALPR discussion is one that will involve us all.”
This is a breaking news article and will be updated as more information becomes available.
