Residents call on Monongalia County to end Flock Safety license-plate camera program; commissioners, sheriff defend use

Public commentators urged the Monongalia County Commission on July 1 to terminate a contract with Flock Safety and remove automated license-plate readers (ALPRs) from county property, arguing the devices threaten privacy and misuse opioid-settlement funds.

"Spending $180,000 of our opioid settlement funds on these cameras is an obvious misuse," Paige Rearing told the commission, adding that ALPRs create "a de facto drag net that tracks and logs the movements of vehicles and individuals." Justin Muser, who said he is an IT administrator for the PRT, told commissioners he had asked for an acceptable-use policy months earlier and had not received follow-up from county officials or the sheriff's office.

Several speakers cited national examples they said show misreads and misuse of ALPR systems. Nicole Panachon described an add-on she called "signal trace" that she said can collect device-level signals and build searchable profiles, and Donovan Lawson outlined cybersecurity concerns, saying some camera models run unsupported operating systems and can expose stored data.

Sheriff Todd Forbes, who spoke during the public-comment period and again during commissioners' reports, defended the program and the county’s oversight. He said the county audits all uses and that access to the system is limited. "We know every time that somebody checks into the account and what plates or what information was collected," he said, and he offered to meet with residents who want to review details.

Commissioner Sean said he forwarded technical questions from residents to the vendor, then to the sheriff’s office, and argued that the use of opioid-settlement funds for these devices falls under permitted categories set by the West Virginia First Foundation, including "first responder and public safety initiatives." He said 4% of opioid-settlement funds have been spent to date on the cameras, and that committed amounts total about 12% of funds received so far, with the majority used for treatment and prevention programs.

Commissioners and the sheriff also described operational limits the county says apply to the deployment: they said the cameras in Monongalia County capture license-plate data only, are not linked to facial-recognition tools in the county's deployment, and are activated in connection with a criminal complaint, amber/silver alerts or an identified investigative need rather than used for general mass surveillance.

Speakers who opposed the program said those safeguards are insufficient and asked the commission to halt deployment until the county publishes a clear acceptable-use policy, discloses what data have already been collected, and demonstrates legal and technical guardrails. Several speakers also urged reallocation of opioid-settlement funds toward proven treatment and harm-reduction strategies such as needle-exchange and other community programs.

The commission did not reverse its earlier approval of the camera program at the July 1 meeting. Commissioners said they will continue to receive questions and offered follow-up opportunities; one commissioner invited speakers to meet after the session and the board scheduled a work session to continue the discussion.

The commission moved on to other agenda items after closing the public-comment period.