PORTSMOUTH, Va. — Portsmouth has about 136 Flock license plate cameras across the city. Police said the technology helps keep people safe, but some neighbors are questioning what it means for privacy.
The Portsmouth Police Department will hold a town hall Thursday, August 27, at 6 p.m. at Manor High School to explain how Flock cameras and other technology are used.
Jessica Evans, a Portsmouth resident and community advocate who has lived in the city for 15 years, said she does not believe the cameras are worth the privacy concerns.
“I’m just asking people to demand these contracts to be canceled,” Evans said.
Evans said money spent maintaining the cameras should instead go toward schools and infrastructure.
“I think best crime prevention we can do in Portsmouth is fully funding our schools, if I’m being honest, and the infrastructure here in the city,” Evans said.
Elexcia Washington with the Portsmouth Police Department said officers use Flock cameras and gunshot detection technology to help address staffing shortages.
“It’s a service multiplier," Washington said. "It allows our police officers to maintain safety for our community, even when we have limited staffing.”
Washington said the technology has also helped police find missing people, including people with dementia.
Within the last year and a half, Washington said officers have used license plate reader cameras to help locate missing people after families provided information about the vehicle they were driving.
She said officers were able to use the cameras to track the vehicle's location and ultimately recover the missing person unharmed.
Portsmouth has 130 Flock cameras and 246 gunshot detection devices, Washington said. The department said the technology is placed based on past calls for service and crime data.
The department said it spent $1,161,800 in 2026 to maintain the systems.
Washington said there are misconceptions about how license plate reader cameras operate.
"They think it’s a live camera that’s constantly surveilling,” Washington said.
Washington said the cameras are not constantly recording video. Instead, they capture images of license plates.
“They’re just taking pictures of your license plate, something that everyone can see and snap a picture right now,” Washington said.
Washington said the images are deleted after 21 days and that Flock cameras capture license plates, not people.
According to Portsmouth's public Flock portal, nearly 443,000 unique plates were read in the last 30 days.
Evans said she wishes the police department had held a town hall before the technology was installed in Portsmouth.
Her biggest concern, she said, is what happens to the information collected by the cameras and whether it can be shared outside the Portsmouth Police Department.
“My main concern is, will this information be shared with agencies outside of Portsmouth PD? Like ICE, like Border Patrol,” Evans said.
Residents can attend the Portsmouth Police Department's town hall at 6 p.m. Thursday, August 27, at Manor High School to ask questions about the technology and how information collected by the cameras is used.
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