The Public Safety Standing Committee of the Richmond City Council met on February 25, 2026, at approximately 2:45 PM. The meeting included approval of prior minutes, public comment on numerous topics, discussion of the Flock Safety camera contract, a crime statistics presentation, and an update on emergency management improvements following the January 2025 water crisis. No formal votes were taken on the Flock contract or Shockoe Bottom safety measures, but the committee forwarded a red light camera ordinance to full council and approved board vacancy recommendations.
Good afternoon. We were now called to order this meeting of the public safety standing committee. I will now begin by reading the chamber emergency evacuation plan announcement and public speaker guidelines. Upon activation emergency alarm signal, all persons should immediately exit the building. Please use the exit to the left, right, or front of the council chamber or the east of West Stairworlds outside the rear doors of the chamber. Do not use elevators or escalators. At the exit in the building, security would direct everyone down 9th Street to the assembly area located inside the former public safety building parking lot. Able persons should assist visually inherent a pair of visitors with exiting the building. Persons wishing to speak during the public comment period or public hearings are generally allowed three minutes to speak. Persons appearing before the committee are now allowed to campaign for public office, promote private business ventures, use language of a personal nature, which is also demeans any person, including comments directed at public officials or staff members that are not related to their official duties or just to question staff members directly. All questions to be directed to the committee chair. Faithy here to the guidelines may result in speakers forfeiting any many time and further displaying action as necessary, which couldn't include barring from attendance and future meetings of the committee for a period of six months. This concludes the announcements, and we will now um go on to the approval of the minutes going a little bit out of order. Um the minutes to be approved are from the October 28th, 2025 public safety standing committee meeting. If there are no amendments or corrections, you know, meeting minutes stand approved as presented. Those minutes have been approved. We will now open up the floor for public comment. Is there anyone here that would like to provide comment for items not for um anything not on today's agenda? Please approach the podium and form a light at the podium and state your name for the record and please speak clearly. Hi there. My name is Penny Page. Um I'm here to talk about the city's contract with Flock Security. Um I helped in part to organize uh efforts to get the city's contract with Flock canceled, and I want to make clear that I did so um in effort to help um efforts being led by police across Virginia and across the country. I was a little bit concerned to see uh in the media and other places this effort being uh depicted as some kind of anti-police movement, which is so far from the truth. I personally, well, I'm not speaking on behalf of my employer. I've worked professionally with the police in several contexts. I um so happy to have uh their collaboration on so many projects. I believe, especially in the work done by Richmond City police, uh, and that they're trying to adhere, I've seen over and over again to the best practices in police and use the best proven methods to achieve public safety. Um, notably an attempt to focus on repeated violent offenders because a pattern of habitual offense demonstrates the behavior that cannot be adjusted without preventing this person from inflicting further harm on the community. And that's kind of really the exact issue with FLOC. The pattern of the misuse of this data, it's happened again and again all across the country. Um this data's been used to by people trying to stalk their ex-girlfriends. Um it's been authorized, it's been accessed without authorization by immigration. We haven't been able to stop that in our own city, in fact. Um I do know that there is a uh legislative attempt to fix this. Uh passing a new law, though, is not going to change the behavior of someone who habitually breaks the law. Um, and that is important. We tell victims of uh crimes, they're very often told a protective order is an important tool, but to a habitual offender, it is ultimately just a piece of paper. And to a habitual offender like Flock, this new law is just a piece of paper. Um I mean, that is in addition to uh the fact that there is no proof this technology is really effective. I'm very uh concerned about the fact that Flock does tend to point to anecdotal evidence. There are cases where crimes have been solved and their technology has been used in the course of solving that crime, but those do not reflect a larger trend. Uh the research uh on the effectiveness of this technology is mixed at best. That's generous to say. Um it's uh there's no clear trend that communities that have this technology are safer because of it. Uh-y seconds. Oh, thank you. I mean, I could tell you uh anecdotal cases of specific people who smoke cigarettes until they're 80 years old, but that does not mean that people who smoke cigarettes do not get cancer. Um thank you. I'm uh here asking that you cancel the uh city's contract with Flock.