Schmidt v. Norfolk

On April 20, 2026, the ACLU, ACLU of Virginia, and Electronic Frontier Foundation filed an amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in a case challenging the Norfolk, Virginia police department’s use of Flock ALPRs to surveil the movements of drivers around the city.

Our brief lays out how these ALPR systems collect significant amounts of sensitive location data, including from individuals not suspected of any crime, and aggregates these location points into sprawling, interconnected databases with inconsistent retention periods. The data gathered includes not only a vehicle’s license plate, but may also identify its owner, driver, and associates, as well as phone numbers and criminal histories. The quantity and depth of data collected allows federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to query the data in subsequent weeks, months, and even years across jurisdictional lines for sensitive details about drivers’ lives.

Although Virginia’s 2025 ALPR statute prohibits out-of-state and federal sharing, numerous Virginia law enforcement agencies have already violated this prohibition. Moreover, these agencies are still permitted to access out-of-state data and to share within Virginia’s internal ALPR network.

Given that ALPRs indiscriminately collect data and facilitate new kinds of retrospective searches that allow for the deduction of individuals’ movements, they violate expectations of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. For the foregoing reasons, our brief argues that the Fourth Circuit should reverse the ruling of the district court.