Fairfax County police say the county's 84 Flock cameras have contributed to 1,647 criminal cases since November 2022, according to a presentation prepared for the Board of Supervisors Safety and Security Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 20.

The presentation delivers a detailed public accounting of the program's results since supervisors unanimously paused new Flock installations in September. The board acted after receiving hundreds of emails from residents concerned about privacy and data sharing.

Ten of the county's 84 police-operated Flock cameras sit in the McLean Police District, concentrated in the Tysons area. Another 48 privately owned cameras operate in the McLean district, mostly in the Dranesville area and owned by homeowners associations and commercial centers.

What the numbers show

As of Oct. 12, the Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program had helped recover 573 stolen vehicles worth more than $9 million, locate 60 missing people, seize 67 firearms and generate 2,672 arrest charges, according to the presentation. Police also recovered more than $790,000 in other stolen property.

At Tysons Corner Center, the department reported year-to-date crime reductions between 2024 and 2026: shoplifting down 46.4%, robbery down 70%, motor vehicle theft down 50% and overall calls for service down 16.6%.

The department presented three options for the program's future. Option 1 would maintain the current program at no additional cost. Option 2 would keep the program while testing alternative vendors that comply with Virginia law and department policy. Option 3 would close the network to all outside data sharing while keeping access to privately owned cameras. Police warned that a closed network would weaken cross-jurisdictional investigations.

Flock CEO addresses data-sharing concerns

Ahead of the meeting, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley sent a letter to Board Chair Jeff McKay asserting that the company's system blocks federal and out-of-state agencies from accessing Fairfax County's data.

Virginia law (Section 2.2-5517) prohibits sharing license plate reader data with federal or out-of-state entities, and Flock's platform enforces those restrictions technically, Langley wrote. Under a separate Virginia statute (Section 15.2-1726.1), the company "applied a statewide search filter that blocks searches that indicate they may be related to immigration enforcement."

Flock does not have a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to both the letter and the police presentation. Data sharing is off by default, Langley wrote, and only Fairfax County can choose to share its data with another agency.

The cameras capture still images of vehicles, delete data after 21 days under Virginia law and do not use facial recognition, according to the letter.

Oversight tightened

The police department said it reduced the number of personnel authorized to search the system from 821 to 296. No one above the rank of major has access. The Real Time Crime Center major who oversees the program is barred from conducting searches.

The department also said it was among the first agencies nationally to use an automated artificial intelligence auditing tool that flags certain searches for review. Board Chair McKay said in September that all searches face a 100% audit and that the county had identified no instances of misuse, according to WTOP.

Critics want cameras removed entirely

The advocacy group DeFlock Fairfax has pushed for a full ban, not just a pause. When supervisors voted to halt installations on Sept. 15, the group called the move "performative" because no new cameras were planned, FFXnow reported.

Mia Amado, a DeFlock Fairfax spokesperson, told FFXnow at the time that the pause was "a slap in the face." She said the board had taken no meaningful action and accused supervisors of trying to mislead residents who want the cameras removed and banned.

Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman suggested in September that the pause could be "the beginning of the end for Flock," according to FFXnow. Other supervisors said they wanted a balanced review weighing public safety benefits against privacy risks.

The committee meeting was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center and streamed on Channel 16.