Fairfax County is among four Virginia localities where officials lacked basic knowledge about Flock Safety surveillance cameras, a statewide investigation found.

The Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO reviewed thousands of public records from Fairfax, Norfolk, Alexandria and Mecklenburg counties. The report, published Friday, Aug. 28, and republished in the Virginia Mercury on Tuesday, Sept. 1, documents how Flock Safety provided law enforcement with pre-written talking points when residents raised concerns about the company's license plate reader cameras.

As we reported Sept. 1, the DeFlock Fairfax advocacy group held a forum Aug. 22 at Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale, drawing about 100 people. The VCIJ investigation adds a new layer: records showing the surveillance company coached officials on what to say.

Scripted answers for police

College of William and Mary Police Chief Don Butler contacted Flock after residents raised concerns about the school's cameras, the VCIJ report found. Butler wrote that he was "trying to be transparent with some folks who would rather we didn't have Flock cameras."

Flock Safety Vice President Chris Colwell responded not with a direct answer about data-sharing but with a list of scripted questions and answers. Colwell instructed Butler to "forward this email as-is" or copy and paste it into a memo for residents.

"Having simple, ready-to-share language is often just as important as the underlying controls," Colwell wrote.

A separate Flock training document, titled "How to Speak to City Councils About Public Safety Technology," advised agencies to "spend less time defending the technology's capabilities" when the public raises surveillance concerns. The document, first reported by 404 Media and obtained by VCIJ, told officials to prepare scripted presentations because opponents "come prepared."

Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin declined to comment on the investigation.

Officials struggled to answer basic questions

The records revealed that even elected leaders had trouble getting answers from their own police departments. Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskin emailed City Manager Jim Parajon in June 2025 asking how many Flock cameras the city had, whether anyone outside the police department could access data and whether federal agencies had access to the city's 67 cameras. Gaskin noted her colleagues had also sought the information without receiving an answer.

Brad Lehmann, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Virginia Commonwealth University and a former police officer, told VCIJ that many departments lack the capacity to vet new technology before deploying it.

Fairfax County police defend oversight

The Fairfax County Police Department has said its officers spend about 40 hours each month auditing search activity for misuse, with each monthly review presented to a commander. FCPD said the technology has helped file charges in 1,700 cases since 2022, recover more than 500 stolen vehicles and locate 57 missing people.

FCPD said in a statement to Northern Virginia Magazine that it does not receive alerts related to immigration enforcement warrants, driver's licenses, registration or inspection violations.

Virginia law requires that license plate reader data be deleted after 21 days unless it is part of a legal case. The law also exempts the data from public records requests, a point DeFlock Fairfax founder Matthew Lofgren has described as a barrier to accountability.

Del. Irene Shin of Fairfax County has called for making search data public. Five Virginia localities have already ended their Flock contracts, according to DeFlock Fairfax: the cities of Staunton and Charlottesville, the towns of Elkton and Warrenton, and Floyd County.

No vote or hearing on Fairfax County's Flock contract has been publicly scheduled.