Danny Clawson is the executive director of the Virginia Harm Reduction Coalition, a Roanoke nonprofit that works to reduce the effects of substance use and homelessness. He previously worked as a statewide outreach manager for Georgia Equality and served in the Peace Corps in Cameroon. He is a Democratic candidate for Roanoke City Council in 2026.
Case
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
Role at the time: Democratic candidate for Roanoke City Council
Statement summary
Danny Clawson said he is clearly opposed to Flock and Raven operating in Roanoke and said the city should invest in community-based violence prevention instead of surveillance.
“So I'm very clearly opposed to Flock and Raven as companies in our city because we cannot surveil our way to safety, right? We need to be investing in community-based solutions like we've been doing with things like Fed Up and these organizations, social networks uh, that are changing the way young people react and respond to violence.”
The reference point is whether networked license-plate reader systems such as Flock should exist and be used. Asked whether candidates would remove the company from Roanoke, Clawson said he is clearly opposed to Flock and Raven as companies in the city and that the city cannot surveil its way to safety. That is a rejection of the system in Roanoke, not a call for limits, so Condemned fits.
Statement dates: July 11, 2026
Statement dates: July 11, 2026
Statement dates: July 11, 2026
Statement dates: July 11, 2026
