Flock cameras detect a million vehicles across Williamsburg area in 30 days (ANALYSIS)
Across 95+ cameras, there were almost 11K hotlist hits, resulting in more than a thousand investigative searches
Williamsburg, James City County, York County, and William & Mary all deploy an AI-enabled camera surveillance system run by a company called Flock Safety. The cameras operated by the company are designed to detect every vehicle that passes in front of them, automatically recording license plates and various vehicle characteristics. That data can then be checked against law enforcement watchlists and used for other investigations. Each jurisdiction and the college have enabled transparency pages provided by the company, spelling out a variety of statistics such as how many cameras are deployed, how many vehicles get detected and flagged and how often that information is accessed. Rules about how the data can and can not be used is also listed on the sites.
York County reported deploying 42 cameras, the most of any jurisdiction, and also recorded the highest number of unique vehicle detections, at 547,852 over a 30-day reporting period. Williamsburg reported 32 cameras and 257,146 vehicles detected during that time, while James City County reported 21 cameras and 248,682 vehicles detected during the period. William & Mary does not disclose its camera count on their transparency site, but 27,125 vehicles were identified by their network.
Williamsburg, James City County, York County, and William & Mary logged over 1 million vehicle detections in a single 30-day period, resulting in 10,768 hotlist hits and 1079 system searches.
Check out the Flock Safety transparency pages for each jurisdiction, where you can view the source data used in this analysis:
A hotlist alert happens when a camera flags a plate tied to something police are already looking for, drawn from sources like NCMEC Amber Alerts and the NCIC list maintained with the Virginia State Police. Again, York County reported the most hotlist hits, with 6,203 recorded during the period. Williamsburg reported 3,457, and James City County reported 1,101. William & Mary reported the fewest hotlist hits with only 7 recorded in the same period.
Beyond automatic alerts, law enforcement officials can also run their own searches of the system, looking up a specific plate or vehicle, which the sites state can be used to help solve a case after the fact. Access to this data also isn’t limited to a single department. All four jurisdictions check plates against national and statewide hotlist sources, including NCMEC Amber Alerts and the NCIC list maintained with the Virginia State Police, so a match can surface an alert from far outside the local area. York County reported the most searches total, at 684 during the period, followed by James City County with 297 and Williamsburg with 98, while William & Mary recorded none.
William & Mary is the only jurisdiction to disclose details about sharing its own camera data directly with outside agencies, reporting that it shares data with 19 partner agencies and receives data from 5 more; York County, James City County, and Williamsburg did not disclose this kind of network sharing.
Several of the transparency sites relate what they describe as success stories. York County published two success stories: one describing the recovery of a stolen vehicle and the arrest of its driver, and another describing how Flock cameras helped identify a suspect vehicle in a fatal hit-and-run, leading to the arrest of a Newport News woman.
Cameras: 42
Unique vehicles detected (30 days): 547,852
Searches conducted (30 days): 684
Hotlist hits (30 days): 6,203
Hotlist hit rate: 1.13%
Data retention: Not disclosed
Success stories published: 2
Network data sharing disclosed: No
William & Mary published one success story, describing how a Flock match on an out-of-state plate helped identify a suspect in an indecent exposure case near the Mason School of Business, resulting in charges and a plea to Disorderly Conduct.
Cameras: Not disclosed
Unique vehicles detected (30 days): 27,125
Searches conducted (30 days): 0
Hotlist hits (30 days): 7
Hotlist hit rate: 0.0258%
Data retention: 21 days
Success stories published: 1
Network data sharing disclosed: Yes (19 sharing partners, 5 receiving partners)
James City County’s transparency page, reporting figures as of Fri Jul 31 2026, states a 21-day data retention period. The page did not publish any success stories, and it did not disclose any network data sharing information.
Cameras: 21
Unique vehicles detected (30 days): 248,682
Searches conducted (30 days): 297
Hotlist hits (30 days): 1,101
Hotlist hit rate: 0.443%
Data retention: 21 days
Success stories published: 0
Network data sharing disclosed: No
Williamsburg’s transparency page, reporting figures as of Fri Jul 31 2026, states a 21-day data retention period. The page did not publish any success stories, and it did not disclose any network data sharing information.
Cameras: 32
Unique vehicles detected (30 days): 257,146
Searches conducted (30 days): 98
Hotlist hits (30 days): 3,457
Hotlist hit rate: 1.34%
Data retention: 21 days
Success stories published: 0
Network data sharing disclosed: No
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