Following charges against some officers, Virginia lawmaker looks to further limit Flock

A state law designed to punish law enforcement officers for abusing automated license plate readers, commonly known as Flock cameras, has led to charges in two Virginia localities. But one legislator in Richmond thinks more reforms are needed.

One Chesterfield County police investigator was charged earlier this month with Computer Invasion of Privacy following an internal investigation that found she abused the county’s license plate camera system. A similar scenario played out against an officer in James City County in September.

Chesterfield-area Senator Mike Jones was glad to hear about the agency in his district holding their own accountable: “That is positive," he told Radio IQ. "That, for me, is the system beginning to work.”

But the Democrat, who was considering a proposal for a total ban on ALPR’s until Governor Abigail Spanberger called the idea “overly simplistic,” is looking to place more limits on the devices.

“We have to ensure guardrails are put in place,” Jones told Radio IQ.

Jones is planning to submit one new bill that would decertify police officers for abusing ALPR’s system. And the second would require a warrant from the courts to access the cameras’ information.

Norfolk Commonwealth's Attorney Ramin Fatahi argues ALPRs are an important new tool, solving crimes they’ve been unable to solve before. But he was glad to hear abuse of the system was being punished.

“The question is will they get caught and will they get prosecuted?" Fatahi told Radio IQ. "And the answer is yes.”

Fatahi adds that violating the recent law is already a felony, which is grounds for decertification. And he argues that requiring a warrant would negate the most useful aspect of ALPRs-- Speed. If the new law is starting to work, he says give it more time.

“The first fruit that they are bearing, in addition to the data dashboards and the like, is charges against these officers who are abusing the public trust,” he said.

In an unrelated move Tuesday, Henrico County announced it would terminate its contract with Flock Safety in the next seven days. In a statement, Board of Supervisors Chair Roscoe Cooper said "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.”