Roscoe D. Cooper III
Role at the time: Chair of the Henrico County Board of Supervisors, Virginia
Statement summary
Henrico County Board of Supervisors Chair Roscoe D. Cooper III said in a county release that residents have raised concerns about Flock Safety and whether the data it collects is sufficiently safeguarded. He said the county is confident Henrico Police used the data appropriately but cannot ignore the potential for misuse of system data by others, and that ending the contract is the right thing to do.
“While we are confident that Henrico Police has used ALPR data appropriately for legitimate law-enforcement purposes only, we cannot ignore the potential for misuse of system data by others. Ending this contract is the right thing to do for our residents and community.”
Henrico County news release announcing that the county police division is terminating its contract with Flock Safety over privacy concerns. It quotes Board of Supervisors Chair Roscoe D. Cooper III and says police intend to cut ties with Flock within seven days.
Why we used this label
The reference point is whether networked license-plate reader systems such as Flock should exist and be used. Cooper backs ending Henrico's contract with Flock because of privacy concerns and the potential for misuse of system data by others, while saying the county is confident Henrico Police used the data appropriately for legitimate law-enforcement purposes. The release says officials will review other options for keeping the division effective, and no replacement license-plate system is chosen. He rejects this vendor's contract without rejecting license-plate readers as a whole, which fits Mixed or conditional, placed at Ban on the remedy ladder. The closest competing label is Condemned, which would fit if he had called license-plate readers themselves a harm; his stated concern is whether Flock's data is safeguarded.