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Flock and license plate readersMay 10, 2024Norfolk, VA

Commonwealth v. Bell: Norfolk court holds Flock collection is a search

verifiedchecked v3.16

Commonwealth v. Jayvon Antonio Bell, Case No. CR23001500-00, -01, -02 (Norfolk Cir. Ct., Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise), reported at 113 Va. Cir. 316 (2024). Police used a Flock hit to tie a getaway vehicle to robberies across Chesapeake, Norfolk, and Portsmouth, then ran the plate through DMV records, all without a warrant. The court granted suppression, reasoning from Carpenter and Jones and citing Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. The "172 cameras, 30-day retention" figures used in Bell and Church come from The Virginian-Pilot, June 19, 2023.

How we know: Order read directly (v3.16). Whether Bell was separately appealed is not known.

“the collection and storage of license plate and location information by the FLOCK system constitutes a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and should require a warrant”
Judge Jamilah D. LeCruise, Order Granting Motion to Suppress

Machine-readable: /api/v1/claims/bell-suppression.json