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, 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!"
This is a breaking news article and will be updated as more information becomes available.
