Vienna Town Manager Mercury Payton and Police Chief Dan Janickey will take public questions about the town's Flock license plate reader cameras Friday, Sept. 18. The forum begins at 6 p.m. on the Freeman Store patio.

The session is part of Payton's recurring "On Deck with Mercury" series, the town announced on X.

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers, or ALPRs. They log a passing vehicle's plate number along with details such as make, color and visible damage, then upload the data to a searchable law-enforcement database.

The Vienna Police Department currently operates the cameras in town. At the Aug. 24 Town Council meeting, resident Robbie Lapham told council members there are 10 Flock cameras in Vienna and called for their removal.

"I believe it should be up to the people and the Town Council of Vienna to vote on whether flock cameras should continue to exist in the town," Lapham said during public comment, according to council meeting records.

The Vienna Police Department has pointed to the technology's investigative value. In March, the department said on its official X account that Detective Brad Reedy and other detectives used Flock LPR data and regional coordination to identify a suspect in a series of overnight burglaries along Maple Avenue. The suspect was charged with four counts of burglary and destruction of property.

The forum comes days after two neighboring jurisdictions moved to restrict the technology. The Arlington County Board voted Tuesday, Sept. 15, to discontinue its 41 county-leased Flock cameras and ordered all related equipment removed, Northern Virginia Magazine reported. The same day, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to pause installation of new stationary Flock readers while officials review privacy safeguards, according to Patch. Fairfax County's existing 84 stationary Flock cameras remain active pending a Safety and Security Committee review scheduled for Oct. 20.

Virginia law requires a 21-day retention period for license plate reader data, two-year retention of audit records, documented reasons for searches and limits on sharing data outside the Commonwealth, according to Flock Safety as reported by InsideNoVA.

The forum is open to the public. Residents with questions can also contact the Vienna Police Department at 703-255-6366.