Take Action

Flock's cameras are still operating in Roanoke, and City Council can choose to end the program. Here's how to tell them to remove it — plus the same official channels if you'd rather it stay.

Tell the City Council to Remove Flock

    • Speak at a City Council meeting: Roanoke City Council meets twice a month — on the first Monday at 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., and on the third Monday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. All meetings are held in the City Council Chamber, Room 450, at the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, 215 Church Avenue SW. Speakers are allotted three minutes each. (Roanoke)

    • Contact the ACLU of Virginia: active on this issue locally — acluva.org.

If You'd Rather Keep It

    • Contact City Council to express support for continued or expanded use (same contact info as above).

    • Submit a public comment to RPD's Public Information Office praising the program's transparency and results.

File a Public Records (FOIA) Request

Most people don't know they can request records about Roanoke's Flock program directly — or that state law limits what's actually available. Here's how to file, and what to expect.

Virginia's Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA) lets any resident request most government records — but a 2025 state law (Code of Virginia § 2.2-5517(E)) specifically exempts raw ALPR search data and audit logs from disclosure. That means you generally can't get the underlying camera search logs — but you can still request the contracts, policies, costs, and internal communications that shaped Roanoke's Flock program.

    • City of Roanoke: Contact the City FOIA Officer at 540-853-2433 (general) or 540-853-2470 (police-specific), or use the online FOIA request form. Worth requesting: the Flock Safety contract and pricing, the Raven gunshot-detector installation list and internal review after the 2026 misplacement errors, and City Council briefing materials on ALPR/Raven. The city must respond within 5 working days.

    • Roanoke County: File through the county's online public records portal or call the FOIA Officer at 540-772-2010. Worth requesting: the county's ALPR policy (a summary is already posted on its ALPR Transparency page) and any Flock contract or budget documents.

    • State of Virginia: There's no single statewide Flock dataset to request — ALPR data lives with each local agency, and audit logs are exempt from FOIA everywhere in the state. Virginia State Police's own ALPR use policy and the Virginia State Crime Commission's ALPR compliance reports are already public — no request needed. If you believe an agency is violating the law (for example, sharing data with out-of-state or federal agencies without a warrant), that's a matter for the Commonwealth's Attorney or the Virginia Attorney General's office, not a FOIA request.