Damascus is a small town of about 800 people who don’t have a single stoplight to contend with, but three Flock cameras monitor their comings and goings and read their license plates.
Locals in the Washington County town have brought the nationwide debate about Flock Safety’s partnerships with local law enforcement to their hometown. A movement to take down the Flock cameras has gained momentum since the summer, with a petition opposing the use of the cameras drawing 280 signatures as of Tuesday.
The town’s contract with the company for three camera rentals and license plate monitoring services is up for renewal, and the council is scheduled to vote on the contract Wednesday night.
About two dozen Virginia localities have “de-Flocked” since the summer, ending or significantly altering contracts with the company — which currently partners with thousands of law enforcement agencies across the country to provide public safety technology, from license plate detection to first responder drones.
Government use of its cameras has faced scrutiny in Virginia and beyond. The state’s appellate court issued an opinion in early 2026 affirming the technology’s constitutionality, but opponents across the country have expressed concerns about surveillance, privacy and protection of data.
Over the past couple of months, Virginia law enforcement officers in Chesterfield County and James City County have been arrested and charged with improper use of the technology. Others in different states have been convicted of misconduct and stalking felonies.
Damascus, known as Trail Town USA, draws a lot of tourists with its proximity to a number of recreation trails, including the Virginia Creeper Trail and the Appalachian Trail, along with its fishing and scenic beauty.
“Damascus has been a safe haven for travelers to escape city life and be in nature, away from technology,” says the local petition, which calls for the removal of the local cameras. “Here, trust and community go hand-in-hand. Our Damascus Police Department does an outstanding job keeping our community safe. We should not subject our community and visitors to untrustworthy data collection and mass surveillance.”
Damascus Police Chief Kermit Turner understands people’s apprehension, he said in an interview.
If any of the four members of his department, including himself, were using the town cameras improperly — to stalk an ex-girlfriend, for example — he would want them investigated by state police. And he would want them to resign, he said.
But he has a strict set of protocols in place for use, Turner said, and it would be a shame to lose the technology.
“This is one of the single greatest tools that we can have,” he said. “Anything can be abused. I feel very comfortable with my guys not abusing the system, because they know that if there is any kind of violation of our policy, because it’s scrutinized so bad, they will be terminated. No questions asked.”
The Damascus Police Department entered into a contract with Flock through a state grant in late 2024, paying $10,450 the first year and $9,000 for each year after that. At the time, Turner said he did not anticipate the Flock backlash, which began to accelerate in mid-2026.
The Damascus cameras do not use facial recognition or even speed detection technology, he said. His officers are not allowed to constantly sit and monitor them, either, according to department policy. For officers to check camera footage, they must open an investigation that involves someone’s license plate or a description of a vehicle.
For example, a recent case at the Food City in town involved someone buying food with fraudulent checks, according to Turner. Food City’s own cameras had footage of the person’s vehicle, but only half of the license plate could be seen. Turner was able to check Flock camera footage from the dates and times the person was at the store and figure out what car the person was driving, based on the description of the vehicle from Food City and the partial plate number.
The person who owned the car had 10 felony warrants at the time, Turner said, and he flagged the local police department in Tennessee where the person lived. Those officers got a full confession from the person, he said.
According to state law, law enforcement is allowed to retain the camera footage for 21 days or less, unless a portion of the video is determined to be evidence in a case. Turner’s policy is at the 21-day mark.
That length of time can sometimes be too short, he said, but if the town council determines Wednesday that it needs to change, he will go along with it.
“We are put under a microscope, and we’re put up on a pedestal, and we’re scrutinized a lot more than any general public is,” Turner said, referring to his department. “I don’t mind it. I have nothing to hide. I’m on the side of right, and I’m going to do everything I can, to my ability, to do it the right way.”
Favorite walking path under surveillance
Eleanor Goodrich, a Damascus resident, trusts the officers in her town, she said by phone — but she doesn’t trust Flock.
Facial recognition makes her especially nervous, she said. Flock officials have said their cameras can’t identify people, but she doesn’t believe them, she said. She doesn’t want her face and her movements to be logged by a third-party company, Goodrich said, or even sold off to other companies.
Goodrich first found out about the cameras in August, after a few people she knew in town told her about them. One of her favorite paths to walk is near South Shady Avenue by Beaver Creek Park.
There’s a camera on the road. Now that she knows, she doesn’t walk there anymore, Goodrich said.
“It’s just changed daily movement and how it feels to move around our town,” she said.
The town is built around tourism, with people staying in local inns and taking shuttles to bike a variety of trails, she said. Now that Flock is a national issue, she doesn’t want that to drive people away from Damascus when many residents’ livelihoods depend on tourism. She wants the cameras to be taken down, Goodrich said.
So do her neighbors, she said. If everyone who’s signed the petition so far is a town resident, that accounts for more than a third of the people who live there, she said.
“Honestly, I haven’t seen this much shared and universal concern about an issue in our town since Helene came through and just pulled us all together wanting to take care of each other,” Goodrich said.
For Pat McCartin, who owns Wheeler’s Inn in Damascus, the town’s use of the cameras demonstrates a lack of trust in its residents, he said in an interview.
Damascus’ crime rates are low compared to other places, McCartin said, and the community has felt safe. He doesn’t understand why the police department needs the cameras, he said.
“It’s irritating,” he said. “It’s degrading, because you don’t trust me enough to be a member of the community. You have to check if I’ve been up to something while I was in another part of the state? Anytime we get tourists in here, you’re going to check the tourists and make sure they’re up to your standard?”
He believes the town officials want to keep the cameras in place so the department can dole out more traffic tickets, keep department numbers of arrests up and prove it needs to exist alongside the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, he said. Personally, he doesn’t think the town needs its own police department, he said.
‘Just made me blow a gasket’
The cameras are at the three entrances to town, he said, and they seem inescapable. If he wants to get groceries or get onto the highway, he’s going to be recorded, and that seems like a violation of his rights, he said.
McCartin has had concerns since the implementation of the contract in 2024, far before the national outcry, he said. Like Goodrich, he wants the technology taken down. Town officials’ responses to his list of legal issues with the cameras have been lackluster or nonexistent, he said.
He had never expected issues with surveillance and privacy to come to the quiet, small town he chose to live in after 2020, he said.
“The timing of it, popping up two weeks after the flood, just made me blow a gasket,” he said, referencing Hurricane Helene’s impact on Damascus in September 2024. “We had just been through a huge indignity in town, getting everything flushed down the river. And now you’re going to put this digital checkpoint up because you don’t trust me?”
Town Mayor Katie Lamb said by phone that she thinks the technology is a positive for Damascus. Tracking vehicles can help find missing children, she said, or elderly parents like her own 99-year-old mother.
“If she got in her little blue car and headed out and didn’t come back, I would seriously want those Flock cameras to be able to tell me which direction she went,” Lamb said.
Though she thinks the cameras are beneficial, she doesn’t want members of the community to feel uncomfortable, she said. She believes the town can reach a compromise to ease everyone’s minds.
But at the end of the day, Damascus isn’t doing anything wrong by using Flock cameras, Lamb said.
“If it helps save people and deter crime, then I am all for it,” Lamb said. “I’m sorry that they’re upset. I appreciate their concerns. But I don’t think their concerns are warranted.”
The town council vote on the Flock contract is set to occur at Damascus Town Hall on Wednesday. The meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
