120 Cameras Gone: Henrico County Tows Flock Hardware After Deadline Missed

Work crews in Henrico County, Virginia, pulled the final Flock cameras from their poles on Saturday. The county manager, John Vithoulkas, confirmed that more than 120 units were taken down. Officials stepped in to perform the labor because the vendor, Flock, missed the contractual deadline to clear the site.

The county ended its reliance on the automatic license plate reader system in October. The contract stipulated that the hardware should be removed within two weeks of that termination date. When that window closed without the poles being cleared, local staff assumed the task. The poles themselves remain installed, a responsibility that the contract assigns to Flock.

The decision to drop the technology followed a review process involving residents, police, and privacy experts. Henrico County posted on social media on October 6 that the police department had severed ties with the cameras by mid-October. Leaders framed the move as a precautionary step. They stated there was no proof that Henrico police had misused the data during the time the system was active.

Rev. Roscoe D. Cooper III, chairman of the Henrico Board of Supervisors, addressed the timing of the exit. He noted that the board monitored national and state-level debates regarding data access. "Rather be proactive than reactive," Cooper said. "We just, again, felt that this was the right time to make this decision."

The technology had drawn criticism from the public over privacy risks. The county viewed the removal as a way to address those concerns before they escalated. The physical takedown of the cameras on Saturday concluded the immediate presence of the Flock system in the county.