DeFlock Fairfax

In 2023, the Fairfax County Police Department began using Flock Safety License Plate Readers. Unlike normal traffic cameras, automated license plate readers (ALPRs) continually monitor all traffic to uniquely profile every passing vehicle and create an easily searchable history of its movements without a warrant. Flock gained national attention for its collection of over 80,000 cameras being used to:

• Assist ICE’s immigration crackdown.
• Stalk police officers’ ex-romantic partners.
• Wrongfully target innocent people who were held at gunpoint or attacked by a K-9.
• Track a Texas woman getting an abortion
• Surveil activists at No Kings protests.
• Tell an innocent woman, “You can’t get a breath of fresh air…without us knowing.”

FCPD’s ALPR policy states it does “not share information to federal authorities regarding their investigations into immigration enforcement.” However, it isn’t possible to verify how FCPD uses ALPR cameras because ALPR logs are not subject to FOIA requests, and there are no independent audits of ALPR searches. Additionally, FCPD shares its ALPR data with over 160 agencies. These agencies can search our cameras however they like, without any accountability.

Virginia passed a law in 2025 regulating ALPR usage, limiting data sharing and retention periods. In 2026, the Crime Commission released police departments’ self-reported ALPR usage. A third of departments didn’t respond. Of the respondents using ALPRs:

• 35% haven’t promoted public awareness of ALPR usage, in violation of the law.
• 16% don’t have an ALPR policy, in violation of the law.
• 21% keep data longer than 21 days, in violation of the law.
• 13% share continuous ALPR data with out-of-state agencies, in violation of the law.
• 6% share continuous ALPR data with federal agencies, in violation of the law.
• The report didn’t say which departments broke the law.
• The report didn’t indicate any departments would face consequences.

Flock admitted to lying about sending data to immigration enforcement. Flock has lied to a Wisconsin city council about surveillance features. Data about our daily movements is entrusted to a private company whose integrity is suspect. Regulating Flock has failed, and its lawful usage relies on broken promises from the company itself.

Other Virginia police departments have terminated their Flock contracts. It’s time for Fairfax County to follow suit. It’s time to de-Flock.