Public raises privacy and immigration concerns over Flock, Peregrine and police cooperation with federal agencies

Several residents asked Charlottesville City Council to halt use of automated surveillance systems and to disclose any agreements or operational cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.

Several speakers singled out Flock Safety cameras and a data-aggregation product referred to in public comments as “Peregrine” (a local procurement described by public speakers as a tool to consolidate agency data). “We need to turn off the Flock cameras and reject technologies like Flock and Peregrine that hand our sensitive data over to anyone willing to exploit the system,” said Elizabeth Stark, a city resident and member of the People’s Coalition, citing reports that the data can be used for immigration- and reproductive-health-related enforcement outside Virginia.

Alicia Linehan, who identified herself by address and referenced a FOIA request tied to an April courthouse incident, said recent documents show “a level of cooperation between the Albemarle County Police Department and the federal government” and described regional meetings between local police leadership and ICE/Homeland Security. She told the council she wants a “thorough, detailed presentation” about what agreements the city and county have signed and what level of cooperation is being provided.

Other speakers, including local attorney Ron Ignatz and Reverend Karen Mann, connected surveillance concerns to broader civil-rights and racial-justice issues, citing federal use of surveillance data in immigration enforcement and the potential for profiling. Ron Ignatz urged the council for “community control of whether to acquire” such systems, saying tools that combine automatic license-plate readers, camera feeds and commercial data create privacy and Fourth Amendment risks.

The city manager responded that the Flock deployment was approved as a pilot and is scheduled to expire in October unless council decides otherwise; he also said the city has solved crimes using the Flock system but that staff will bring a recommendation to council based on future review. On the question of sanctuary jurisdiction designation, the manager said the list that labeled Charlottesville was removed from public posting and that the city will continue to follow the law while balancing potential funding risks.

Council did not take action on surveillance policy or on requests for a special presentation at this meeting; multiple residents requested more transparency and a formal staff report.