Richmonders react to Flock's new safeguards for camera systems

Our Take

Credit to WRIC's 8News team for getting Richmond residents on camera reacting to Flock Safety's latest announcement — requiring officers to log a case number before running a plate search, plus some backend flagging for "improper" queries. It's telling that this rollout came only after months of reporting on misuse scandals nationwide. Flock isn't adding these controls out of principle; it's adding them because communities like Richmond kept asking uncomfortable questions.

But let's be clear about what a case-number field actually does: it creates a paper trail for audits after the fact. It does nothing to shrink the dragnet itself. Richmond still has dozens of cameras logging every car that passes, building a searchable history of where you've been, whether you're a suspect in anything or not. A self-policing audit tool is not oversight — it's Flock grading its own homework, and police departments deciding what counts as "improper" with zero outside accountability.

If you're in Richmond or anywhere else wondering how many of these cameras are already watching your commute, check our camera map to see what's nearby. And if you think a logging requirement isn't enough, our take-action page has tools for pushing your city council toward real transparency — public contracts, audit access, and sunset clauses, not just a software update.