Norfolk's Flock retention: 30 days in 2024, 21 days after a 2025 Virginia law

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.

How we know: Resolved Sept 28, 2026 from primary documents: both police orders (Schmidt Exhibits 16 and 18) and the statute on the official Virginia code site.