{
  "version": "3.33",
  "compiled": "2026-10-09",
  "site": "https://stateofwatch.com",
  "claim": {
    "id": "norfolk-retention-change",
    "section": 5,
    "title": "Norfolk's Flock retention: 30 days in 2024, 21 days after a 2025 Virginia law",
    "date": "2024–2026",
    "sort": null,
    "status": "verified",
    "checked": null,
    "note": "Resolved Sept 28, 2026 from primary documents: both police orders (Schmidt Exhibits 16 and 18) and the statute on the official Virginia code site.",
    "category": "data",
    "body": "Norfolk police Special Order 23-002 (issued July 25, 2023) set Flock retention at 30 days, the figure in the Church and Bell records (Jan to May 2024). In 2025 Virginia enacted Va. Code § 2.2-5517 (2025 Va. Acts Ch. 720, H.B. 2724, approved May 2, 2025), which requires plate-reader data to be purged after 21 days unless it is part of an ongoing investigation, prosecution, or civil action. Norfolk replaced the 2023 order with General Order OPR-493, issued June 30, 2025, which purges data after 21 days. The Schmidt summary-judgment record (Jan 2026) describes the resulting 21-day rolling database.",
    "quotes": [],
    "sources": [
      {
        "label": "Norfolk Police Special Order 23-002 (2023), Schmidt Doc. 114-16 (E.D. Va.)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101.114.16.pdf",
        "doc": "norfolk-so-23-002"
      },
      {
        "label": "2025 Va. Acts Ch. 720 (H.B. 2724), Schmidt Doc. 114-17",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101.114.17.pdf",
        "doc": "va-acts-2025-ch720"
      },
      {
        "label": "Va. Code § 2.2-5517(E)",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title2.2/chapter55.5/section2.2-5517/"
      },
      {
        "label": "Norfolk Police General Order OPR-493 (2025), Schmidt Doc. 114-18",
        "primary": true,
        "url": "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101/gov.uscourts.vaed.562101.114.18.pdf",
        "doc": "norfolk-go-opr-493"
      },
      {
        "label": "Bell and Church records"
      },
      {
        "label": "Schmidt, Doc. 191",
        "doc": "schmidt-district-opinion"
      }
    ],
    "places": [
      "norfolk-va"
    ],
    "url": "https://stateofwatch.com/claims/norfolk-retention-change"
  }
}