(WKBN) – A federal lawsuit in Virginia against the Norfolk Police Department could have a far-reaching impact, including here in the Valley.
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The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia surrounds Norfolk’s use of Flock cameras (license plate readers) — specifically 172 of them.
2024.10.21-1-Complaint Download
The most recent and impactful move so far in the case is that the federal judge recently ruled against Norfolk’s motion to dismiss the case and is allowing it to be litigated. There have been other cases brought to court involving the use of Flock cameras, but this one is gaining traction because of the judge’s ruling not to dismiss.
The lawsuit was filed by Lee Schmidt and Crystal Arrington against the City of Norfolk Police Department and its chief. It contends that their civil rights were violated when their vehicles were recorded on the city’s Flock camera system.
The lawsuit says that “unlike a police officer posted at an intersection, the cameras never blink, they never sleep, and they see and remember everything. Every passing car is captured, and its license plate and other features are analyzed using proprietary machine learning programs, like Flock’s ‘Vehicle Fingerprint.’”…