Skye Hathaway, Contributing Writer
The Richmond Police Department has extended its contract with Flock Safety Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs), according to their public information officer Phon Hoonson.
Some Richmonders are demanding the city remove AI-powered video cameras from the streets as the city defends their utility in responding to vehicular crimes.
ALPRs assist the police in violent crime investigations, missing persons cases and stolen vehicles, Hoonson stated in an email.
The data stays in the police department’s system for 21 days to aid in investigations before it is automatically deleted, according to Hoonson.
Rick Edwards, chief of the RPD, stated in an email that the ALPR readers have been a useful tool in helping investigators identify and arrest offenders.
“With strong privacy safeguards and strict limits on use, this technology enhances our ability to protect the public and keep Richmond safe,” Edwards stated.
Some groups in Richmond are campaigning for the city to discontinue ALPR usage, including the Democratic Socialists of America, which has recently led the “Block Flock” campaign.
Victoria McCullough, co-chair of DSA’s Migrant Solidarity Working Group, believes ALPR surveillance does more harm than good.
The group began after a 2025 report that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been using data from Flock cameras to target immigrant drivers, McCullough said.
Immigrant community members are most likely to encounter a police officer while driving, according to McCullough.
DSA has worked to end the RPD’s contract with Flock since last spring, McCullough said. They attend Richmond City Council meetings to share their campaign with council members during public comment.
Recently, MSWG gathered 2,000 Block Flock petitions to send to Mayor Danny Avula, according to McCullough. The American Civil Liberties Union was among 15 nonprofit and community groups that signed and sent a letter to the mayor requesting for the contract to be cancelled.
The group believes there is a lack of public transparency in how the data is used, McCullough said.
“It’s not necessarily only targeting immigrants, it’s targeting anybody who might have ever been profiled by the cops,” McCullough said. “It’s targeting everybody who drives in general on the basis of pre-criminal behavior.”
McCullough said the recent increase in hit-and-runs and gun violence in Richmond moved their campaign towards public safety conversations.
The campaign asks that the money spent on ALPRs goes back to the community where it could be spent on alternative public safety measures, McCullough said.
The RPD has spent a million dollars on ALPRs since 2024, according to The Richmonder.
Suggested alternative safety measures include added sidewalks, lights and safer bike lanes to reduce pedestrian accidents, according to McCullough.
There are at least two Flock cameras on VCU’s Monroe Park campus, located at the intersections of North Harrison and West Grace Street as well as West Franklin Street, according to the open source map deflock.com.
Gloria Kamau, a fourth-year forensic science student at VCU, interned with the Chesterfield Police Department, where she saw Flock cameras being used first-hand.
The CPD used the tool to identify a suspect in a drive-by shooting during her shift at the Analytical and Strategic Unit, Kamau said.
The department relies on ALPRs to identify cars associated with thefts or traffic violations, according to Kamau.
“I understand how people might think it’s an infringement on our privacy but in reality almost everything we do, even having a phone, they can track us,” Kamau said. “So personally I believe Flock cameras help out tremendously for the police to identify cars that are involved with something illegal.”