RICHMOND, Va. — Protesters gathered outside Richmond City Hall Monday to speak out against the city's use of Flock license plate readers, while inside, Richmond's mayor and police chief defended the technology — pointing to a new Virginia state law they say addresses key privacy concerns.
Flock Safety cameras capture, track and provide real-time alerts on vehicles, and Richmond police have credited the technology with helping solve crimes including hit-and-run accidents, armed robberies and homicides. The cameras were used in solving the fatal hit-and-run deaths of Hope Cartwright, 23, and Kristen Tolbert, 26.
Watch: How do Richmond's Flock Safety cameras work?
But critics argue the cameras raise serious equity and privacy concerns. Steven Keener, who runs the Center for Crime, Equity and Justice at Christopher Newport University, recently conducted a study on cameras placed in the Hampton Roads region.
"Our conclusions are clear, if you live in Hampton Roads and you live in a predominately Black or predominately high poverty neighborhood, you are far more surveilled than other residents in the Hampton Roads region," Keener said.
Critics like Keener have also raised concerns about data sharing, including with federal agencies.
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Richmond's Flock Safety cameras solve crimes, but critics raise concerns
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula pushed back on those concerns, saying a new Virginia state law now makes sharing Flock data — including with federal and state partners — a Class 1 misdemeanor.
"The way that Flock has augmented our law enforcement response — this is kind of the new age of policing, and so we absolutely need to prioritize the safety of data and we need to make sure that we have good guardrails in place," Avula said. "I think many of the things we heard in the public comments today were from a time when there weren't state laws that make the sharing of data a class one misdemeanor."
Avula called the technology a "game changer" for the city.
Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards argued the cameras also help protect community members who might otherwise be called to testify as witnesses.
"Obviously the more technology that we are able to throw at this problem, the less individual witnesses we need to come to court and testify," Edwards said. "I'm a former homicide detective and I know what that's like to have to give a subpoena to a person who lives in a neighborhood that has a lot of crime."
Edwards is scheduled to present a report Tuesday at a public safety meeting, giving city leaders an update on crime data and cases solved with the help of automated license plate readers.
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