Fairfax County license-plate readers

Fairfax County Police Department

Status: Removing or limiting cameras
Vendors: Flock Safety, Axon
Cameras: 84
84 fixed Flock cameras, per FFXnow (Sept. 16 and Oct. 21, 2026) and FOX 5 (Oct. 20, 2026); FCPD also runs 712 (FFXnow) or 714 (FOX 5) Axon Fleet 3 readers on cruisers and can access about 120 privately owned cameras.
Contract: Flock Safety: $136,270 grant · from Nov. 21, 2023 · approved by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors · U.S. Justice Department grant accepted to support expansion of the plate-reader program. (FFXnow, Nov. 21, 2023)

2022 FCPD began an eight-week Flock trial at two locations, later extended through Oct. 31, 2023. (FFXnow, Nov. 21, 2023)
Nov. 21, 2023 Board of Supervisors approved a $136,270 federal grant to expand the plate-reader program; 25 more readers had been added in spring 2023. (FFXnow, Nov. 21, 2023)
Sept. 15, 2026 Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to pause new Flock camera installations until its Safety and Security Committee met Oct. 20; Chair Jeff McKay sent Flock's CEO questions on data ownership, access and AI search features. Existing cameras were not affected. (FFXnow, Sept. 16, 2026)
Sept. 24, 2026 The Fairfax County School Board voted unanimously to bar installing, buying or leasing plate readers on school property; no readers were on school grounds at the time. (FFXnow, Sept. 28, 2026; FFXnow, Sept. 16, 2026)
Oct. 20, 2026 Safety and Security Committee reviewed the program for about two hours without a vote. Police said they had cut the number of staff who can search plate data from 821 to 296 and offered three options: keep the program while weighing other vendors, test alternative systems, or move to a closed county network without outside sharing. Supervisor Walter Alcorn said he would vote to end the Flock contract; Supervisor Pat Herrity cautioned against a rush to judgment. (FFXnow, Oct. 21, 2026; FOX 5 DC, Oct. 20, 2026; Fairfax County Hunter Mill District Office, Oct. 20, 2026)

Conflicts and open questions

Data is deleted after 21 days, and FCPD says 100% of searches are audited, per FFXnow (Sept. 16, 2026).
No board vote on the program's future had been scheduled as of Oct. 21, 2026 (FFXnow).
The board paused only new installations on Sept. 15, 2026; the 84 existing Flock cameras kept running, and police cut the number of staff who can search plate data from 821 to 296 (FFXnow, FOX 5, Oct. 2026).

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Herndon Police Department

Status: Using license-plate readers
Vendors: Flock Safety
Cameras: 10
10 Flock readers per the department's transparency portal, as reported by FFXnow (Oct. 9, 2026).
Contract: Flock Safety: $38,000 FY2027 budget · Budgeted for Flock readers in the current fiscal year; the town bought through a Henrico County-led cooperative contract and paid an initial $15,000 for installation on Oct. 16, 2023 (FFXnow). (FFXnow, Oct. 9, 2026)

Oct. 16, 2023 Town made an initial $15,000 payment for Flock installation and implementation, per records obtained by FFXnow. (FFXnow, Oct. 9, 2026)

Conflicts and open questions

Department policy keeps data 21 days (FFXnow).

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

May 2, 2025 Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed HB 2724 on May 2, 2025, in the form the General Assembly first passed it, after legislators turned down his proposed amendments (a 30-day rather than 21-day retention period and removal of the reenactment requirement for right-of-way permits). It is 2025 Acts chapter 720, codified at Code of Virginia § 2.2-5517, effective July 1, 2025; the vendor-contract rules in subsection C take effect July 1, 2026. (Virginia Lawyers Weekly, May 12, 2025; Virginia Legislative Information System, Oct. 28, 2026)
July 1, 2025 Under § 2.2-5517, police may use plate readers only for criminal investigations based on reasonable suspicion, for missing/endangered-person and human-trafficking investigations, and to receive alerts on missing persons, warrants, trafficking and stolen vehicles or plates. Plate data must be purged after 21 days (audit-trail data after two years) unless tied to an open case; a camera alert alone is not grounds for a stop; every query must be logged; and agencies must audit use at least every 30 days. (Virginia Legislative Information System, Oct. 28, 2026)
July 1, 2025 The law bars selling plate-reader data or sharing it with any state, federal, private or commercial database; sharing is limited to other law-enforcement agencies for permitted purposes, prosecutors, defendants in discovery, court orders or subpoenas, vendors for maintenance, and public alerts. Misuse or unlawful sharing is a Class 1 misdemeanor, and plate data and audit records are exempt from the Virginia FOIA. (Virginia Legislative Information System, Oct. 28, 2026)
July 1, 2025 The law has Virginia State Police share data from plate readers on limited-access highways and on CTB/VDOT bridges, tunnels and special structures with the police in the locality where each camera sits. Agencies must report camera counts, queries, stops, sharing and related data to State Police by April 1 each year, and State Police compile the results for the Governor, General Assembly and Crime Commission by July 1. (Virginia Legislative Information System, Oct. 28, 2026)
July 9, 2025 Virginia State Police issued a statewide model plate-reader policy, as the 2025 law directed, setting a 21-day retention limit and requiring monthly internal audits that review at least 5% of queries. (Virginia Department of State Police, July 9, 2025)
Jan. 21, 2026 The Crime Commission's survey found that 159 of the 251 agencies that answered (63%) use plate readers. Flock was the most common vendor (137), followed by Axon (35), Leonardo (12) and Motorola (12). Thirty-three agencies reported keeping data longer than 21 days, and the Commission found some agencies out of step with the new law. VDOT retroactively permitted 215 readers already on state right-of-way before July 1, 2025: 18 for State Police and 197 for localities. (Virginia State Crime Commission, Jan. 21, 2026)
Jan. 21, 2026 The Crime Commission noted that the 2025 law's provision letting VDOT permit new plate readers on state highway right-of-way would take effect only if reenacted in the 2026 session; the Commission did not take a position on reenactment. (Virginia State Crime Commission, Jan. 21, 2026)
April 24, 2026 The Crime Commission's checklist for agencies, dated April 24, 2026, tells police not to install plate readers on state highway right-of-way (with pre-July 2025 devices needing a VDOT permit), to report ALPR-prompted traffic stops to State Police under the Community Policing Act from Jan. 1, 2026, and to use only systems approved by the state Division of Purchases and Supply with vendor contracts stating agency data ownership from July 1, 2026. The first annual agency reports are due April 1, 2027. (Virginia State Crime Commission, April 24, 2026)
Sept. 3, 2026 Cardinal News counted Virginia localities that had paused, ended or let lapse their Flock programs since July 2026, including Lynchburg, several Southwest and Southside counties, Goochland and King William counties and the town of Dumfries; Staunton and Charlottesville ended contracts in 2025. (Cardinal News, Sept. 3, 2026)
Sept. 2026 State Sens. Lashrecse Aird (D) and Glen Sturtevant (R) said they would pursue legislation in the 2027 session to ban Flock and similar plate-reader systems. Gov. Abigail Spanberger said she is open to limits but called an outright ban "overly simplistic." (WMRA / Radio IQ, Sept. 9, 2026; WWBT 12 On Your Side, Sept. 3, 2026; InsideNoVa, Sept. 2026)

State agencies

Virginia State Police

Status: Using license-plate readers
Vendors: Vendor not named in source

July 1, 2025 Section 2.2-5517 requires State Police to share data from plate readers on limited-access highways and state bridges and tunnels with local police, and to compile agencies' annual plate-reader reports for state leaders. (Virginia Legislative Information System, Oct. 28, 2026)
July 9, 2025 Issued the statewide model ALPR policy required by the 2025 law. (Virginia Department of State Police, July 9, 2025)
Jan. 21, 2026 The Crime Commission reported that State Police use plate readers and received 18 of VDOT's retroactive right-of-way permits; 95 of the 159 agencies using plate readers named the State Police HEAT grant as a funding source. (Virginia State Crime Commission, Jan. 21, 2026)

Conflicts and open questions

State Police use plate readers, hold 18 of VDOT's retroactive right-of-way permits, must share data from readers on limited-access highways and state bridges and tunnels with local police, and compile agencies' annual reports.

From agency records.