Alexandria To Dump Flock Cameras: Report

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Alexandria police will deactivate all of the city’s Flock cameras within days, according to a new report.

According to ALXNow, the City Council was informed on Tuesday that all the Alexandria Police Department's Flock and other automatic license plate reader cameras will be deactivated within 48 hours.

The APD operates 61 Flock and other license-plate reader cameras. All will be dismantled by December, Alexandria City Manager Jim Parajon and Police Chief Tarrick McGuire told the City Council.

The City Council returned from its summer recess with many questions for the department about its use of the technology, as city residents raised concerns. Automatic license plate reader cameras have become controversial across the country due to fears about privacy rights, misidentification and potential misuse by law enforcement.

Arlington ordered its Flock cameras to be removed in September, and other locations in Northern Virginia are currently ending or debating their use.

In September, the mayor and some other city council members called for the surveillance technology to be dumped. The APD later limited the agencies able to access data from its cameras and held listening sessions with the public at the end of September and beginning of October.

The department also published a map of its Flock cameras in October.

While residents pushed back against the technology, the department had recently attempted to demonstrate its use in solving some of the city’s more serious crimes, including a recent homicide.

Read more from ALXNow here.

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