Citizens of Charleston, WV Against Mass Surveillance
The City of Charleston, Charleston Police Department, Flock Safety, Motorola, Leonardo DRS, and every private company deploying license plate readers in this city deserve real scrutiny before public dollars or public trust are committed to this technology. What follows is offered for an informed, fact-based decision by the Council and the public record.
Each exhibit below documents a distinct, verifiable problem with license-plate-reader surveillance already present in Charleston, whether operated by the police department or by private companies on land bordering public streets.
Charleston Police Department currently operates a stationary Motorola license plate reader on Pennsylvania Avenue. Classified as "passive" and described as used only for active investigations, the technology must still scan and log every single vehicle that passes in order to find a match.
38.3593, -81.6413 — CPD ALPR, Pennsylvania AveFlock cameras are currently deployed at the Lowe's in Kanawha City, at Target and Lowe's in Southridge Mall, and at the Walmart and Lowe's in Cross Lanes. These are private deployments operating in the public sphere, pointed at our roads and sidewalks, collecting data on Charleston residents regardless of suspicion.
Charleston does not need to adopt Flock, Motorola, SignalTrace, or a similar ALPR system to keep residents safe. The City already deploys standard, high-resolution IP and CCTV cameras at city buildings, parking garages, event venues, parks, and intersections.
Charleston should weigh the experience of other cities and jurisdictions where ALPR technology has led to documented misuse, public backlash, and, in some cases, the end of the contract entirely. See the case log below, drawn from recent, publicly reported coverage cited in full at the end of this record.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested and charged five former Albany Police Department officers, Tytianna Davis, Jade Jackson, Nicholas Richardson, Brittney Smith, and Issac Whitus, with misuse of license plate data and violation of their oath of office, after an internal audit found they had accessed the department's Flock system repeatedly for non-law-enforcement purposes. A Greene County sheriff's deputy was separately arrested days later on similar allegations. [Sources 1, 2]
The Los Angeles Police Department announced it would not renew its Flock contract, with LAPD's chief information officer citing unresolved concerns around civil liberties, civil rights, and how collected data is handled. [Source 3]
Huntington City Council voted 6 to 4, in a meeting that ran roughly eight hours past 4 a.m., to approve a five-year, more than $2.1 million contract with Flock for license plate readers, live cameras, audio detection, and drone services. More than 50 residents spoke against the contract, and protestors rallied outside City Hall throughout the meeting. Charleston should hold public meetings requesting resident input before moving forward, and learn from, not repeat, this outcome. [Sources 4, 5, 6]
In Houston, at least half a dozen Flock cameras were cut down and spray painted over the course of a single week in July 2026, prompting an ongoing police investigation. In northeast Wisconsin, the cities of Kaukauna, Appleton, Grand Chute, Oshkosh, and Sturgeon Bay have all ended or declined to renew their Flock contracts, citing privacy concerns and an inability to audit data sharing. In Suffolk, Virginia, a 41-year-old U.S. Air Force engineer, Jeffrey Sovern, faces 13 felony counts of destruction of property for allegedly dismantling 13 Flock cameras over six months, and has pleaded not guilty while telling investigators he believes the cameras are unconstitutional. [Sources 7, 8, 9, 10]
Cities that have successfully paused, canceled, or placed real guardrails on Flock and similar ALPR contracts, including Los Angeles, Denver, Austin, Evanston, El Cerrito, and Flagstaff, have generally asked their councils for the same core set of protections. I ask Charleston City Council to adopt the same approach.
Do not authorize any new or renewed contract with Flock Safety, Motorola/Vigilant Solutions, SignalTrace, or any comparable vendor unless presented as its own agenda item, with a public hearing and a recorded vote.
Before further investment, commission an independent audit of the Pennsylvania Avenue ALPR and any other CPD license-plate-reader use: who accessed the data, how often, for what purpose, and whether any search was run for personal reasons.
Any future contract must cap data retention at the shortest window that supports real investigations, days, not weeks or months, with automatic deletion after that.
Prohibit sharing Charleston's ALPR data with any other agency, including federal agencies such as ICE or CBP, without a warrant tied to a specific felony investigation recognized under West Virginia law.
Limit use to defined categories, such as felony investigations, missing person cases, and stolen vehicle recovery, and publish that policy so residents know exactly what the cameras can and cannot be used for.
Require CPD to publish yearly numbers on searches run, by whom, and for what purpose, and limit how ALPR data can be pulled through open records requests so it cannot be used to track or stalk a specific person.
Extend regulation to privately owned ALPR systems operating on Charleston's public rights of way, including the Lowe's location in Kanawha City, since these currently function as an unregulated extension of the same surveillance network.
Work with neighboring municipalities, including South Charleston and St. Albans, so residents are not left exposed simply by crossing a city line. Protections are only as strong as the weakest jurisdiction sharing the network.
Legislation to limit warrantless, real-time surveillance statewide, including House Bill 4682, has been introduced in 2025 and 2026. I ask Council to commit now to complying with any such law if enacted, and to hold off on new local contracts in the meantime.
I ask that this statement be entered into the official record of Charleston City Council and shared with each council member and the Mayor's office.
City officials need to hear from residents who refuse to surrender their civil liberties in the name of false security. You have the right to attend City Council meetings and speak during the public comment period.
Check the official council calendar and confirm the next meeting date and agenda.
Arrive early to sign up for public comment.
Speak out. Ask Charleston to reject any contract with Flock, Axon, Motorola, or SignalTrace, and remind Council that mass surveillance without a warrant is a Fourth Amendment problem, not a convenience.