Citizens Share Concerns Over Flock Cameras

By DAVID QUESENBERRY

Patriot Publishing 

During the Citizen Comments portion of Radford City Council’s agenda Monday night, several citizens came forward to voice their concern over the expanding use of flock cameras and their potential impact on citizens.

Tyler Lawrence asked Council how the cameras were paid for. Mayor David Horton responded that they were typically financed by state grants. Lawrence told Council that cameras were unpopular with the public.

Antonio Gonzales told Council that there was a small sensor that could be added to the cameras that could pull any Blue Tooth or Wi-Fi transmission from any device inside a passing vehicle and match it to a person. From that point in time forward, every time a driver passes by another flock camera, this sensor will intercept data in the vehicle letting the camera know the driver’s location. Gonzales felt that use of this sensor technology “would be very detrimental to public privacy.” He also objected to this data being managed and accessed by private companies finding it “very contradictory” against the constitutional rights of individuals that “a private company could see where everyone is at all times” with or without their consent.

According to Gonzales, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled 6-3 that this activity was unconstitutional. What that ruling meant as applied to flock cameras, Gonzales was not certain but felt the ruling put flock cameras “in hot water” since by reporting people’s location they were doing something not permitted.

Austin Smith asked Council what other things the grant funds for flock cameras could be used for given the needs of the Police Department. He also asked about the Department’s opinion on the cameras and were they actually helping with things. Riley Lyons noted her objections to the cameras in that they would damage the integrity of the Radford community which she described as “a very lovely place to be.”

Mayor David Horton said when the issue of cameras was brought before Council, they were presented as being used for regular police work. Grant funds were also available for this type of camera which were used by the city. He asked Chief Jerry Holdaway of the Radford City Police Department, to tell how the flock cameras were used, what the role of officers were, and what the cameras could and could not do.

Chief Holdaway said that the ability to collect data from license plates was not a new law enforcement technology. The flock cameras were a newer type of device. License plate readers have been in use by the City for 15 years and may have been stationed on street corners. Flock cameras are now distributed through the community. As pertains to Radford, Holdaway said there were 5 flock cameras in the city. At times, the HEAT grant from the State Police pays for the entire bill for a camera. One camera was sponsored by a business. He estimated that all things considering, the City might pay $2,000 toward the 5 cameras. Last year, the Department used the flock cameras 1,400 times or about 4 times a day. Searches are made for a variety of activities involving abductions, missing persons, wanted suspects, and stolen cars and license plates.

Mayor Horton asked under what conditions an officer would access the flock system. Chief Holdaway responded it would have to involve a criminal justice purpose. “Law enforcement already has access to information more sensitive than what flock is providing for us,” he said, “but it is for anything needed in our profession or in an investigation.” Use of the cameras are well regulated by the state he said. Since the Department was a CLEA accredited agency it is subject to national standards, a strict accreditation policy, and a strict state policy on flock camera use. Holdaway said the RCPD had exceeded what the state requests in compliance checks with its officers.

Despite misgivings about the technology, Holdaway said the “success stories” needed to be mentioned. Over the past two weeks he said, flock had been used in a successful grand larceny case that could not have been solved without the cameras. Flock was used to track a stolen utility trailer to a community. It was also instrumental in the apprehension of an out of state double homicide suspect, whose vehicle was identified by the flock system. Without flock Holdaway said, we would have never know this person was in our community. He said he hoped people would take the opportunity to understand that “we’re not just simply monitoring people and collecting data. We’re using it for a criminal investigative purpose.”

In other business, Council conducted a public hearing on the carryover of grant funds from previous fiscal years. The grants involved $3,969,598 to be carried over from FY 25 to FY 26 and $2,697,829 in FY 26 grants for water/wastewater and the EDA Fund. No comments were received.

Council appointed Tom Bennett to the Board of Zoning appeals and Charlie Goins and Sarah Turpin to the Tourism Commission. It also updated the City Manager’s job description to appoint City Manager Todd Meredith as the Accountable Executive for the Transit Access Management Plan.

Council unanimously approved a resolution setting the annual allocation percentage for personal property tax relief for the 2026 tax year. The tax was eliminated for vehicles under $1,000 in value while vehicles valued at $1,001 to $20,000 would receive 32 percent tax relief. Vehicles in excess of $20,001 in value would receive 32 percent relief on the first $20,000 of value.

Also approved by Council were a number of finance related appropriations ordinances to account for budgetary carry overs of grant funds from previous fiscal years and grant funds to be appropriated in this fiscal year’s budget.

Approved the following appropriation ordinances for carry over grant funds from previous fiscal years. Ordinance 1815.47 for $3,969,598 and Ordinance 1815.48 for $2697,829. Also unanimously approved by Council were a series of appropriation ordinances for grant funds and state funds received in the current fiscal year: $204,192 for the East Main sidewalks project; $9,850 for crime prevention donations; $10,000 in grant funds for subscription renewals for 5 flock cameras; and $64,679 to account for additional state funding to the city.

The next scheduled meeting of the Radford City Council will be at 7:00 pm, Monday, September 14, 2026 in the Council Chambers of Radford City Hall at 10 Robertson Street.