Mayor Danny Avula announced Saturday that Richmond won’t renew its contract for Flock Safety license plate readers, walking back his previous defense of the technology as a valuable public safety tool.

Avula made the announcement in an Instagram video, four days after neighboring Henrico County announced it was “terminating” its Flock contract. The mayor had previously said his administration would review the Flock contract, but apparently chose to take a firmer stance after Henrico’s move.

“Today, I am announcing that the city will not move forward with the Flock ALPR contract when it’s up for renewal,” Avula said in the video.

Richmond’s Flock contract is set to expire in June of 2027, according to the mayor’s office.

For most of the year, local activists held protests at City Hall urging the city to end its Flock deal. It’s also been a recurring topic during public comment periods at City Council meetings, though no Council members seemed eager to take up the anti-Flock cause.

Flock’s automated license plate readers take pictures of every passing vehicle, creating a database of vehicle locations over time that police can use to track suspects or cars linked to a crime. Flock opponents say the camera network is so extensive it amounts to an invasion of privacy, giving the government too much info on the everyday movement of residents who aren’t suspected of doing anything wrong.

Avula said Henrico’s move influenced his decision.

“Now that Henrico has decided to end their contract with Flock, it clarifies the picture for me. Because Flock, specifically, is now less useful as a tool,” Avula said. “Crime doesn’t stop and start at the city/county line. And part of what makes this technology a useful crime-solving tool is our ability to work together with our regional partners.”

Henrico officials said they were ending their Flock contract immediately, without waiting until it's up for renewal.

“I’m encouraged to see that the region is joining us in grappling with this issue, an issue that is clearly so important to so many residents,” Avula said.

Last week, Chesterfield County announced a former police staffer was criminally charged for alleged abuses of the county’s Flock system.

It’s not clear if regional officials might only stop doing business with Flock specifically, or will abandon ALPR technology altogether by not seeking out another vendor.

The mayor said he still intends to hold a series of public listening sessions to get community feedback on the tradeoffs between privacy and safety. He also said city officials will be watching future General Assembly decisions that could impact how localities can use license plate readers going forward.

In a statement Saturday afternoon, state Sen. Mike Jones, a Democrat who represents parts of Chesterfield and Richmond, applauded Richmond’s move.

“Public safety and the constitutional rights of Virginians should never be competing priorities. We can and must do both,” Jones said. “Black and brown neighborhoods carry too much of the burden of violent crime in our city. Families in these communities deserve to feel safe on their streets, at their bus stops, and in their homes, and they deserve real investment in that safety.”

Those communities, Jones added, also “know what it means to be watched.”

“From the surveillance of civil rights leaders to over-policing that continues today, Black communities have lived under a lens for generations,” Jones said. “Safety cannot come at the price of being treated as suspects in our own neighborhoods.”

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org