Are Flock cameras an invasion of people’s privacy, and should they stay or go?
That’s the big question Fairfax County leaders debated Tuesday.
“The data security concerns are deep for me because we’re talking about people’s right to privacy, which is a constitutional right,” said Fairfax County Supervisor Rachna Heizer.
The conversation comes as nearly 50 police officers around the country have been disciplined for using Flock cameras to stalk their romantic interests, according to the Institute for Justice — a law firm that has sued Flock for violating people’s privacy.
It’s not yet clear what the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors plans to do, if anything, but some of their options include not sharing data with other counties, switching to a different vendor or getting rid of the cameras altogether.
“It concerns me that we are working with a vendor that frankly, they care when it hits their bottom line. For many years they didn’t care,” said James Bierman, Dranesville district supervisor.
On Tuesday, Fairfax County police defended their use of Flock.
“It has become an essential law enforcement tool that has a direct impact on the public safety of Fairfax county,” said Maj. Hudson Bull, real time crime center commander. “[…] We justify every single camera placement we have. We take it seriously where they go.”
Fairfax County police said some of their privacy guardrails include not using flock cameras for immigration enforcement, only storing the data for 21 days and only sharing it with other Virginia agencies, and not D.C., Maryland or federal agencies. They also said they do human and AI audits of all searches.
Supervisor Pat Herrity said he shares the concerns over privacy but believes the Flock cameras should stay.
“I don’t want to be doing what all these other jurisdictions are doing and pulling out of something that keeps our community safe,” he said.
The founder and CEO of Flock sent an 18-page letter to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, describing their privacy practices and saying, in part, “I take nothing more seriously than building our technology to enhance public safety while enabling accountability and transparency.”
Some state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said they want to ban Flock cameras throughout Virginia. It’s an issue they’ll likely take up in 2027.
