NORFOLK, Va. — A newly-filed federal lawsuit argues Flock cameras in the city of Norfolk are unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was filed by a law firm called the Institute of Justice on behalf of Lee Schmidt, a resident of Norfolk, and Crystal Arrington, a Portsmouth resident.
The suit says the cameras are violating their Fourth Amendment rights, which protect against unreasonable searches.
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The cameras take photos of license plates as cars drive by them.
There are 172 of the automatic license plate readers around the city. They're located in other cities as well, but the lawsuit only names the city and police department as defendants.
The attorneys want the police department to stop operating the cameras.
"There is an expectation of privacy in the whole of your movements," said Michael Soyfer, an attorney with the Institute for Justice.
"What's happening here is a single system operated by the government tracking people's movements systematically and connecting them in a database that any police officer can access at any time to see where you were over the last 30 days," Soyfer added.
Earlier this year, News 3 investigated how the cameras were being challenged in criminal prosecutions.
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In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the city said, "While the City of Norfolk cannot comment on pending litigation, the City’s intent in implementing the use of Flock cameras (which are automatic license plate readers) is to enhance citizen safety while also protecting citizen privacy."
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Flock Safety released a statement saying, "Fourth Amendment case law overwhelmingly shows that license plate readers do not constitute a warrantless search because they take photos of cars in public and cannot continuously track the movements of any individual. Appellate and federal district courts in at least fourteen states have upheld the use of evidence from license plate readers as Constitutional without requiring a warrant, as well as the 9th and 11th circuits. Since the Bell case, 4 judges in Virginia have ruled the opposite way — that ALPR evidence is admissible in court without a warrant.
“License plates are issued by the government for the express purpose of identifying vehicles in public places for safety reasons. Courts have consistently found that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a license plate on a vehicle on a public road, and photographing one is not a Fourth Amendment search.”
