Alexandria's 61 Flock license plate cameras are decommissioned and no longer collecting data, police say. User access ends Dec. 1 and the equipment comes down by late December.
Updated Nov. 2: The Police Department’s license plate reader page now says the city’s fixed license plate readers “have been decommissioned and are no longer collecting data.” The page was updated Friday, Oct. 30, at 4:47 p.m.
Alexandria’s 61 Flock Safety license plate cameras were due to stop reading plates Friday, Oct. 30. The Alexandria Police Department set out the shutdown in a presentation to City Council on Tuesday, Oct. 27.
The city sent Flock Safety written notice Wednesday that it intends to deactivate the cameras. The company is to disable them Friday, Oct. 30, so that no new reads occur. All of the equipment is due to come down by the end of December.
The update was item 12 on the council’s Oct. 27 legislative docket, an oral report requested by the City Manager’s Office. It was not a council vote.
The shutdown, step by step
The department’s timeline:
- Wednesday, Oct. 28: written notice to the vendor.
- Friday, Oct. 30: Flock Safety disables the cameras. No new plates are read.
- Monday, Nov. 2: the department runs its own audit to confirm the cameras have stopped reading.
- Tuesday, Dec. 1: all user access is disabled. The department keeps data tied to active investigations.
- End of December: Flock Safety removes all of its equipment.
The presentation says existing state law on license plate readers and auditing still applies throughout.
What the cameras were
The department’s license plate reader page lists 61 operational fixed cameras. They read and convert license plate images into searchable data. The department said the cameras could also be searched by make, model, color, damage or stickers.
The page says the 2023 rollout responded to a rise in stolen vehicles. Cameras sit mainly on major roads and at the main routes in and out of the city.
The page also sets out the contract:
- The city first contracted for Flock Safety cameras through Insight Public Sector in 2023.
- The current term runs to April 2027.
- The city may stop service at any time.
Under Virginia law, the data is kept for 21 days unless it is tied to a criminal investigation, the department said.
Why it came to this
Council members put a list of questions to the department at their Sept. 8 meeting. The department’s written answers, on the same page, cover audits, data sharing and access.
Among them:
- Monthly audits over three years flagged 56 searches for a closer look. The department said none was misuse; most were missing or mistyped case numbers.
- Of 24 Virginia agencies the federal Department of Homeland Security lists with 287(g) immigration agreements, 12 use Flock Safety. The department said it had blocked all 12 from its data.
- Only Virginia law enforcement agencies may search the city’s data, under state law.
What is not changing
The shutdown covers the Flock Safety program. The department’s page lists other cameras that run on separate systems:
| Camera type | How many | Notes from the department |
|---|---|---|
| Red-light cameras | 6, at four intersections | Leased from Verra Mobility; not on the Flock network |
| School-zone speed cameras | 7 | Leased from Verra Mobility; not on the Flock network |
| Parking enforcement plate readers | 10, vehicle-mounted | The presentation does not say whether these change |
Some homeowners associations, businesses and apartment complexes run their own Flock cameras. The presentation does not address them. The department’s page says such owners decide for themselves whether to share data with police, and that sharing runs one way.
What comes next
The presentation lists a possible City Council resolution at the Tuesday, Nov. 10, legislative meeting. It would set guiding principles for judging any new surveillance technology before the city uses it. The department proposed four:
- oversight
- audits
- transparency and community engagement
- city ownership of the data
The presentation also mentions community engagement and input from a commission or committee. It names no replacement vendor.
What it means for you
- The city’s fixed Flock cameras are no longer collecting data, the department says.
- Data already held for active cases stays as evidence. Other access ends by Dec. 1.
- Red-light and school-zone speed cameras run on a separate system and are not part of this shutdown.
- The Nov. 10 agenda, including any surveillance resolution, will be posted on the city’s Legistar calendar before the meeting.
For other city records, see our police and fire log and the road construction and closures page.
Have your say