Flock Applauds Virginia Court of Appeals Ruling Affirming Constitutionality of LPR Cameras

Flock Safety today announced that the Virginia Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court ruling that License Plate Reader (LPR) technology requires a warrant. The decision joins those of many other courts around the country that have confirmed that LPRs are constitutional under the Fourth Amendment.

In its ruling, the Court held that:

“Because the Flock system simply took pictures of the license plate and Church’s vehicle as he drove it down public thoroughfares in the City of Norfolk, the circuit court erred in ruling that a search warrant was required for police to access the Flock system. Consequently, we reverse the circuit court’s ruling that granted Church’s motion to suppress.”
(Commonwealth v. Church, No. 0737-25-1 (Va. Ct. App. Oct. 14, 2025)

This ruling eliminates the only adverse decision in the country related to the use of Flock’s LPR technology. Courts across the United States — including two federal courts of appeals, twenty federal district courts, and four state appellate courts — have uniformly upheld the constitutionality of LPRs.

“Today’s ruling reinforces what courts nationwide have recognized: LPRs are lawful,” said Dan Haley, Flock Safety's Chief Legal Officer. “Flock’s technology is an essential public safety tool that was designed to operate entirely within the bounds of the Fourth Amendment, and we have a team dedicated to improving our privacy and compliance features.”

Flock Safety’s ALPR systems capture images of license plates that are already in plain view on public roads, helping law enforcement solve and prevent crime while protecting individual privacy. The LPR technology does not track individuals, does not identify the whole of vehicle movements, and does not capture activity beyond public thoroughfares.

Flock Safety works with local jurisdictions to ensure compliance with state laws, including Virginia’s new LPR statute requiring a 21-day data retention limit, and builds in robust privacy safeguards, such as comprehensive audit trails and local control over data policies.

“Public safety and privacy are not mutually exclusive,” said Garrett Langley, Flock Safety's Founder and CEO. “Flock’s mission has always been to deliver technology that makes communities safer while respecting constitutional rights.”

To read more about how Flock thinks about Privacy and Ethics, visit: https://www.flocksafety.com/privacy-ethics.

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