According to the College of William and Mary’s Flock transparency portal, campus police are no longer listed as automatically sharing Flock camera data with other law enforcement partners.
This change follows growing national backlash around the use of Flock cameras.
During a moderated public safety conversation last semester, William and Mary Police Department Chief Don Butler said the College shared its data across Flock’s statewide sharing network. This allowed over 100 law enforcement agencies across Virginia to access vehicle information and location data gathered by Flock cameras around campus.
Last semester, students at the College overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to Flock operating on campus by voting in a referendum.
During the public safety conversation, Butler said the College responded to student privacy concerns about Flock by narrowing the law enforcement partners to 16 other Virginia police departments.
“We have professional and personal relationships with these agencies, knowing that they are following the law if they’re accessing our data,” he said.
In an email to The Flat Hat, Associate Vice President for Public Safety Cliff Everton ’96 said WMPD values community privacy and trust, and the Office of Public Safety seeks to actively update its policies in accordance with those values.
“[W]e are regularly evolving and evaluating our approach to the work of Public Safety while also engaging with our community and keeping their safety and privacy at the forefront,” he said.
Everton also said that, though automatic data sharing is now disabled, WMPD would still assess requests to share Flock data gathered on campus in collaboration with other law enforcement partners on a case-by-case basis.
“If an agency needs assistance with a criminal investigation, we will assess any requests and conduct any searches of our data, consistent with Virginia law and WMPD policies,” he said.
