Virginia county removes more than 120 Flock cameras after company misses deadline

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Henrico County crews have removed more than 120 Flock Safety license plate reader cameras after the company missed a deadline to take down the equipment following the termination of its contract with the county.

More than 100 Henrico Public Works employees worked across the county Saturday, Oct. 31, to disassemble the cameras, according to Henrico County.

Crews started at opposite ends of the county and worked toward the middle.

The cameras will remain in storage until Flock retrieves them.

The poles that held the cameras remain in place, and Flock is responsible for removing them and covering the county's costs associated with removing the equipment, according to Henrico.

Henrico notified Flock on Oct. 7 that its contract would be terminated effective Oct. 14 and that the company had to stop collecting data from the automatic license plate readers by that date.

The county gave Flock until Oct. 21 to remove the cameras.

When that didn't happen, Henrico eventually sent its own crews to do the work.

Henrico County

The cameras had already been deactivated and were no longer collecting data, according to the county.

Their continued presence had drawn concern from some residents, even after the system was shut down.

Liana Hardy of the Henrico Citizen reported Oct. 29 that all 128 cameras remained in place more than three weeks after Henrico first announced plans to end its relationship with Flock. County Attorney Andrew Newby told the Citizen at the time that the cameras were no longer operational.

"They're deactivated. They're not connected to anything," Newby told the Henrico Citizen. "It's not connected to our system or any system."

Supervisor Misty Roundtree also told the Citizen that Henrico was prepared to have Public Works employees remove the equipment if Flock did not do so.

"That's not the preferred method. We want our county staff working on projects that are important to the infrastructure of our county," Roundtree said at the time. "But we are working on getting them down in the event that Flock does not carry through with actually removing them."

Henrico announced Oct. 6 that it planned to end its relationship with Flock amid concerns about data collection, access and privacy.

"We believe the time is now," Board of Supervisors Chairman Roscoe Cooper said at the time. "When you talk about data collection, data access, and privacy these are concerns we have."

County officials said the decision followed conversations with community members, police, experts and board members.

The cameras had been used by Henrico police to help investigate crimes by identifying vehicles.

Miles Turner, a retired Central Virginia law enforcement officer who previously used Flock cameras while working in Caroline County, told WTVR in October that the devices could provide police with real-time information about stolen or wanted vehicles and assist investigators working robberies, homicides and sexual assaults.

"In the long run, it's going to hurt more than it's going to help," Turner said of Henrico's decision to stop using the cameras.

Turner also acknowledged concerns about privacy and the potential for misuse of the technology.

"There just have to be safeguards tight enough so that people cannot misuse it," he said.

Henrico officials have said they believe the county's police department used the data responsibly but were concerned about the potential for misuse.

The county's decision also followed an unrelated case in Chesterfield County in which a police department employee was arrested for allegedly misusing that county's license plate reader system.

Henrico previously said it would evaluate other technology options to support police operations. Newby told the Henrico Citizen on Oct. 29 that he was not aware of an ongoing effort at that time to purchase a replacement automatic license plate reader system.

The county said Monday that although the Flock cameras had stopped collecting data, officials understood residents' concerns about the equipment remaining in place.

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