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Residents urge Madison County supervisors to reject Flock Safety license-plate cameras
Summary
Two residents urged the Madison County Board of Supervisors to reject funding or contracts for Flock Safety automated license-plate readers, citing accuracy, privacy, vendor lock‑in, and cybersecurity concerns.
Residents pressed the Madison County Board of Supervisors on concerns about automated license-plate readers during public comment, asking the board to reject any current or future contracts with Flock Safety.
“Ivan Farnsworth said Flock on their own website claims that they have a 96% accuracy rate,” Farnsworth said, adding that “for every 100 cars, they have 4 misidentified plates,” and warning that at scale those errors translate into large numbers of potential misidentifications. Farnsworth also cited cases in Los Angeles where misidentifications led to wrongful stops and detentions.
Kelly Farnsworth, speaking with Colin Beers, urged the board to “reject any current or future funding, contracts, or renewals for Flock Safety automated license plate readers,” arguing the recurring subscription model diverts taxpayer dollars, creates vendor lock‑in and privacy risks, and could be used to train proprietary AI models. They pointed to other Virginia localities that have chosen to reject such systems.
Board members did not take an immediate procurement vote on Flock equipment during the meeting. The public comment was closed and the meeting proceeded to the consent agenda.
What’s next: The board did not place any Flock procurement on tonight’s agenda; any future contract, renewal, or budget item involving ALPRs would need to be presented to the board before a formal vote.
