Civil rights group 'DeFlock' strongly criticizes privacy violations and indiscriminate data sharing
Public forum on the harms of AI surveillance cameras to be held in Annandale on the 22nd
Resident backlash is growing over Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) indiscriminately installed throughout the county by the Fairfax County Police Department.
Online news outlet Annandale Today reported that 'DeFlock Fairfax,' a newly formed advocacy group, has urged the County Board of Supervisors to remove the surveillance cameras operated by the police department—provided by Flock Safety—and terminate the contract.
They warned that a system collecting and recording the travel routes of ordinary citizens in real time without a search warrant causes serious human rights violations and infringements on privacy.
DeFlock Fairfax will host a public informational forum titled "The Path to Mass Surveillance: The Harms of AI Surveillance Cameras in Fairfax County" on Saturday the 22nd from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at Ravensworth Baptist Church (5100 Ravensworth Rd) in Annandale. At this event, the organization plans to inform residents of the dangers posed by the cameras and discuss response strategies.
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) has deployed the license plate reading equipment in the field since 2023. At the time, police emphasized that the technology would provide groundbreaking assistance in tracking violent criminals, recovering stolen vehicles, and searching for missing persons or runaways.
However, according to a map compiled by the group's own investigation, more than 100 Flock cameras are currently in operation within the county. In particular, around 30 cameras are heavily concentrated in the Mason District and Annandale area alone—where Korean-owned businesses are densely located—even considering that they are mobile units.
While police maintain that the data is not used for immigration enforcement, Matthew Lofgren, a representative of DeFlock Fairfax, argues otherwise. "Fairfax police share the license plate information they collect with 168 other law enforcement agencies in other regions, some of which cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)," Lofgren stated, criticizing that "ultimately, it is structured so that anyone with access permissions to the Flock system can freely view the travel records of citizens within the county."
Institutional loopholes have also been pointed out as a concern. Although Virginia legislation enacted in 2025 regulates data retention periods, the data collected by ALPRs is exempt from the state Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), leaving no external way to monitor how police utilize that information.
Nationwide, opposition is growing following reported cases where ALPR information was abused to stalk ex-girlfriends, monitor protesters, and for personal misconduct by police officers. In fact, following privacy controversies, the Los Angeles and Denver police departments suspended their contracts with Flock this year. Within Virginia, several local governments—including Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Warrenton, and Staunton—have already terminated contracts or are considering removing the cameras.
DeFlock Fairfax stated, "Even looking at the case of Atlanta, which introduced 15,000 cameras, the speed of solving crimes did not accelerate," and announced plans to continue lobbying county politicians for the immediate removal of the cameras.