DeFlock Fairfax wants FCPD to take down the license plate readers
A new advocacy group is trying to get the Board of Supervisors to remove the police department’s Flock license plate readers that are popping up all over Fairfax County.
DeFlock Fairfax is concerned that the automated cameras, which continually monitor all traffic, are eroding people’s privacy by creating an easily searchable history of a vehicle’s movement without a warrant
The organization invites the public to an event, “The Road to Mass Surveillance: The Harms of AI Surveillance Cameras in Fairfax County,” on Aug. 22, 1-3 p.m., at Ravensworth Baptist Church at 5100 Ravensworth Road, Annandale.
The Fairfax County Police Department began using license plate readers from Flock Safety in 2023. At the time, FCPD emphasized the usefulness of the cameras for locating stolen vehicles and missing persons, as well as catching crime suspects.
Related story: Police Department to install new, more effective license plate readers
A growing national movement is pushing back against Flock LPRs, as there have been cases of police sharing information with immigration officials and using LPR data to stalk ex-girlfriends and surveil protestors.
There are more than 100 Flock LPRs in Fairfax County, according to a crowd-sourced map developed by DeFlock Fairfax. The map shows about 30 in the Mason District/Annandale area, including eight in Seven Corners, seven in Culmore, three in Bailey’s Crossroads, four in Annandale, five in Lincolnia, and three in Bren Mar Park. Some of the LPRs are portable and can be moved around.
The police department says it isn’t using the LPRs for immigration enforcement. However, Matthew Lofgren, the organizer for DeFlock Fairfax, said the FCPD shares LPR data with 168 other law enforcement agencies, some of which have agreements to cooperate with ICE.
“Any police officer with a Flock login can access our camera data anytime, showing images of cars throughout the county, for any purpose,” Lofgren said.
A Virginia law passed in 2025 regulated the use of LPRs, including a provision to limit the amount of time the data can be retained, Lofgren notes, but it exempted LPR data from the Freedom of Information Act and the law isn’t adequately enforced.
Since Flock data isn’t subject to FOIA, he said, “we have no way of knowing what our police department and other police departments are using Flock for.”
Both the Los Angeles and Denver police departments suspended their contracts with Flock Safety this year due to concerns about privacy and other issues. Several localities in Virginia have canceled or are considering canceling their Flock contracts, including Staunton, Charlottesville, Warrenton, and Harrisonburg.
According to DeFlock Fairfax, Flock LPRs don’t make communities safer. Despite having 15,000 cameras, Lofgren said, the city of Atlanta was not able to solve crimes faster.
Lofgren and advocates with DeFlock have been meeting with members of the Board of Supervisors to urge them to terminate the use of Flock cameras.