As recent ICE activity spurred concerns about ICE utilizing Flock cameras, Alexandria’s mayor is saying the city’s camera data is not shared with federal immigration officers.
The immigrant advocacy group ICE Out of Alexandria had called on City Council to ban automatic license plate readers like Flock cameras over the concern of ICE using them for surveillance of immigrants. That came after the group reported ICE’s apparent detainment of four residents on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 8 at the Eaton Square apartment complex and two more at 7/11 on W. Glebe Road in Arlandria on the morning of Monday, Aug. 10.
ALXnow has reached out to ICE to confirm its most recent activity in Alexandria.
Mayor Alyia Gaskins said she has received numerous questions from the community on Flock cameras. She noted the Alexandria Police Department controls access to the Flock camera systems.
“Those controls are dictated by department policy as well as Virginia state law,” Gaskins said in a social media update. “APD does not and will not share any of this data in civil immigration cases. Also, all data is deleted after 21 days.”
Flock’s transparency portal indicates APD operates 61 license plate readers and other cameras. According to Flock, ICE does not have direct access to Flock cameras unless the state or local agencies operating them allow ICE to use them.
Flock cameras, which utilize AI to capture license plate and vehicle information, have drawn recent criticism not just for immigration-related concerns. Groups like the ACLU have bashed the technology for surveillance of residents’ travel beyond incidents when a crime has occurred.
Flock says its cameras do not capture people, facial recognition, gender, or racial information.
APD has used license plate reader technology for about 20 years, according to Gaskins. The use of the AI-reliant Flock cameras started in 2023 due to a rise in car thefts. The mayor says there is a weekly audit to confirm that the system has not been compromised by unauthorized access.
“To date, we have no evidence of our system being compromised,” Gaskins said.
The mayor said City Council is regularly evaluating Flock cameras and other technology and encourages residents to provide input to the council.
“What I can share with you is that we are constantly working with APD to evaluate the use of technology within our community, not just Flock cameras, and to better understand what are the tools that work best for our community,” Gaskins said. “What are the tools that maybe don’t work or that we no longer want to use?”
