After the city of Roanoke said it incorrectly installed 30 Flock “Raven” gunshot detectors, it says 80% of them have been removed, and on Monday the city council reversed an earlier decision and ended the use of such audio devices.
City Manager Valmarie Turner said that she anticipates all 41 gunshot detector devices will be removed by the end of the week, following an internal investigation that found that “data entry errors resulted in mistype of sensor locations.” She said the matter will not be revisited unless the council directs the city to do so.
The council discussed the situation during a closed meeting Monday, then returned to public session to vote unanimously to repeal the April ordinance. The ordinance allowed for encroachment permits for the devices, which capture audio to detect gunshots.
In April, the city had approved encroachment permits for 75 devices. After the city received a “citizen complaint,” it found in June that multiple devices were installed in locations not previously approved by council. At that time, 41 total devices had been installed. First, on June 24, the city reported that 16 detectors were installed in the wrong locations. The next afternoon, the city said that number was actually 30.
Some of these mistakes included spelling errors, such as “Orange Ave.” being listed as “Grange Ave.” multiple times. The city did not confirm the list of 30 incorrect addresses, after being asked by Cardinal News four times over the course of one week. The city did release the 75 addresses on the “plan set list,” and its community engagement team said the list approved by council in April did contain incorrect addresses.
Councilman Nick Hagen was the first person to bring the issue to the city’s attention after seeing a Reddit post from a resident who expressed concerns after seeing a Raven device being installed on their property. In the post, the resident said their address was not included in the list approved by the council ordinance in April.
Turner said the rollout of the gunshot detectors “fueled distrust” in the city’s use of public safety technology. She said the city will be independently verifying the removal of each device.
The city looked to use Raven technology in an effort to reduce gun-related violence and to locate and assist victims faster, Payton Mayo, police department spokesperson, said in an email in April. Since then, the subject has become a source of public outcry as numerous residents have expressed privacy concerns in city council meetings.
Mayor Joe Cobb said the mistakes made with the devices are “unfortunate and extremely disappointing” during the meeting. “We acknowledge that a human error was made and appropriate action was taken.”
State Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, and Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County, applauded the council’s decision in a joint news release. The pair also sent a joint press release June 10, copying the Salem City Council and the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, expressing “serious concerns” about the tech, citing privacy concerns.
“Today’s vote is a positive step to restoring trust,” their Monday release reads. “The unauthorized placement of commercialized listening devices near private homes without resident notification was a colossal administrative failure and highlights the inherent risks of automated mass surveillance networks.”
The release also calls for the city to “look at their authorization of mass surveillance cameras.”
The city currently has 27 Flock devices active — 26 license plate readers and one live video camera — according to the city’s Flock transparency portal.
The city used $57,000 in Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance funding to pay for the detectors. It’s unclear at this point what will happen with the devices purchased, whether that grant money can be reutilized and if the city incurred any additional costs in the process of incorrectly installing devices that are being removed.
The city did say that it did not pay installation costs, which it said were a part of the vendor contract.
