Henrico County is pulling the plug on its Flock Safety camera network, telling officials the 122-camera system will go dark within seven days over worries that license plate data swept up by the nationwide system isn't being adequately protected. The move makes Henrico the largest locality in the Richmond region to walk away from Flock, a reversal from a county that just months earlier was expanding and renewing its investment in the technology.
Henrico police cited concerns about whether data collected by Flock's nationwide camera network is adequately protected, according to Axios. The about-face comes just months after the county agreed in July to renew its Flock contract through November 14, 2027, accepting a 3% price increase along the way. County spokesperson Ben Sheppard told the outlet that Henrico expects to pay nothing to end the contract early. The board reversed course this month.
Fire Marshals Lost Access Months Before the Full Cancellation
The cracks in Henrico's Flock relationship showed up well before the final cancellation. The county revoked system access for 10 fire marshals in August after discovering that state law did not authorize fire investigators to use the system. County Manager Roscoe Cooper said officials are confident county police used the system appropriately but added that the county cannot ignore the potential for misuse of system data by others.
That caution lines up with a hard statutory line drawn by the state. Effective July 1, 2025, Virginia Code § 2.2-5517 caps ALPR data retention at 21 days and limits use to active criminal justice or missing-person investigations and other authorized purposes, including human-trafficking investigations and notifications related to warrants, stolen vehicles and other specified alerts, according to the Code of Virginia.
Misuse Cases Piled Up Across the Region
Henrico's decision follows a string of Flock misuse scandals that have rattled nearby departments. The Chesterfield County Police Department announced the arrest of professional staff intelligence investigator Rebekkah Robinson on October 2, charging her with two counts of computer invasion of privacy and two counts of improper ALPR use after an August 27 internal audit uncovered unauthorized system searches, according to The Richmonder. Chesterfield's own Flock contract runs through 2029.
Just two days earlier, Virginia State Police charged former James City County police officer Androu A. Eskandar with five felony counts and three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy, plus five misdemeanor counts of improper ALPR use, per the James City County Police Department. A broader Washington Post investigation found that at least 50 officers nationwide have been accused, charged or convicted of misusing Flock or other license plate reader systems, Axios reports, and both Richmond and Alexandria have documented improper or policy-violating searches of their own.
Richmond and Goochland Already Pulling Back
Henrico isn't the first locality in the region to sour on Flock. Goochland County stopped using its 11 cameras in September over privacy and legal concerns, becoming the first locality in the region to abandon the system, Axios notes. Richmond Mayor Danny Avula said public sentiment around the system requires the city to reevaluate its relationship with Flock, and he has directed the Richmond Police Department to shrink its data retention policy from 21 days down to seven. Richmond's own Flock contract isn't set to expire until November 2027, and Henrico's reversal may now put new pressure on both Richmond and Chesterfield to follow suit.
The regional retreat mirrors a wider pattern playing out across Virginia. Dumfries voted to remove Flock cameras and Arlington County ordered the removal of all 41 of its county-leased units following grassroots privacy campaigns, with groups like DeFlock Nova mapping and protesting local deployments.
Pressure Builds Toward a Statewide Ban
State Senator Glen Sturtevant has announced plans to introduce legislation during the 2027 General Assembly session that would make Flock and similar automatic license plate reader cameras illegal statewide.
Flock did not respond to Axios' request for comment on Henrico's cancellation.
