Norfolk County license-plate readers

Norfolk Police Department

Status: Using license-plate readers
Vendors: Flock Safety
Cameras: 176
176 owned cameras per the department's Flock transparency portal (updated Nov. 5, 2025); WHRO also reported 176 as of the January 2026 ruling and 175 in October 2026. The city's first deployment in 2023 was 172 cameras.
Contract: Flock Safety: $490,000 one-time · from 2023 · Purchase cost of the 172 cameras, paid with American Rescue Plan Act money, per the Virginian-Pilot; recurring software and database subscription reported at about $430,000 a year ($2,500 per camera). (The Virginian-Pilot (via GovTech), May 25, 2023)

May 2023 Police Chief Mark Talbot briefed City Council at a work session on the 172 Flock plate-reader cameras installed citywide, which the city manager said were already operating. (The Virginian-Pilot (via GovTech), May 25, 2023; City of Norfolk, date not shown)
June 2023 Council had set aside $532,000 for the police Real Time Crime Center, which was to combine Flock data with live video, in the fiscal 2024 budget; a written policy on camera data use and storage was still being drafted. (The Virginian-Pilot (via GovTech), June 20, 2023)
2024 The police chief told City Council the department planned to acquire more than 230 Flock cameras in total. (WHRO Public Media, Feb. 11, 2026)
Nov. 5, 2025 The department's Flock transparency portal listed 176 owned cameras, 21-day retention, the NCMEC Amber Alert and NCIC-VSP hotlists, and roughly 886,000 vehicles detected in the prior 30 days; it states hotlist hits must be verified by staff before action. (Flock Safety / Norfolk Police Department, Nov. 5, 2025)
Aug. 25, 2026 Chief Talbot told City Council that Flock helped detectives in three recent cases. (WHRO Public Media, Oct. 13, 2026)
Oct. 13, 2026 Residents rallied at City Hall asking the council to cancel the Flock contract and remove the cameras; no council action was reported. The city manager said data misuse would be detected and could lead to firing and possible criminal charges. (WHRO Public Media, Oct. 13, 2026; WTKR News 3, Oct. 13, 2026)

Conflicts and open questions

Talbot briefed council in May 2023 on a Tuesday, likely May 23, 2023 (date given only as a weekday).
The Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority separately bought 20 Flock cameras, per the Virginian-Pilot.
In 2024 the police chief told council the department planned to have more than 230 Flock cameras in total, per WHRO.

From agency records.

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.