Appomattox, Campbell counties explain decisions to stop using Flock Safety cameras

Our Take

Credit to WSET ABC 13 for getting Appomattox County Sheriff Robby Richardson and Campbell County's sheriff on record explaining why they walked away from Flock Safety. This isn't the usual story of a county board caving to privacy activists at a public meeting. These are the law enforcement customers themselves saying the product didn't work as advertised, with Richardson citing data discrepancies and confusion over retention timelines serious enough to tank his trust in the system entirely.

That distinction matters. Flock's pitch to police departments has always been built on a promise of reliability and transparency: a growing network of cameras feeding clean, trustworthy data into investigations. When the agencies actually using the system start publicly questioning whether the data is accurate or how long Flock is really holding onto it, that's a credibility problem no marketing deck can paper over. It also raises an uncomfortable question for every other jurisdiction currently paying Flock's invoices: if two Virginia sheriffs couldn't get straight answers, who else is operating on faith rather than verified facts?

We'll keep tracking which agencies renew, pause, or cancel their Flock contracts as this story develops nationally. Check our camera map to see what's deployed near you, and visit our take-action page if you want to push your own local officials for the same kind of transparency Appomattox and Campbell residents are now getting.