As many as 20 Virginia localities have moved to ban or limit the use of Flock cameras. Critics say they invade the privacy of everyday drivers. Now a bipartisan push in Richmond is promising to bring legislation to address those concerns.
“I think we need to take a pause here in Virginia,” Petersburg Democratic Senator Lashrecse Aird told Radio IQ about her promise to bring legislation in 2027 banning not just Flock cameras, but all automated license plate readers in the Commonwealth.
“We need to allow the public to decide whether or not they want their communities to continue to be plagued with these cameras on every corner,” Aird said Thursday.
Colonial Heights Republican Senator Glen Sturtevant would also like to ban the devices.
“Government should not be keeping a running record of where ordinary Virginians drive just because the technology makes it possible,” he said in a social media post.
But Norfolk Commonwealth Attorney and leader of Virginia’s progressive Commonwealth Attorneys Ramin Fatehi has long defended their use, including as digital evidence that juries demand as faith in police testimony wanes.
“It promotes public safety and civil rights in the form of reducing over policing and police/citizen encounters in lower income neighborhoods,” Fatehi told Radio IQ.
Governor Abigail Spanberger, who would have to sign whatever ALPR ban hits her desk, told WTOP radio she was open to limits but opposed to an outright ban.
“There are many improvements that can be made before we’re looking at taking a really vital tool to solve crimes, to find abducted or missing children, to take those tools out of the toolbox,” the governor said earlier this week.
The 2027 legislative session starts in January.
