"The State of Mass Surveillance in Harrisonburg & the Commonwealth" A great presentation by @rpogge.bsky.social, executive director of @justicefwdva.bsky.social ✅ "It is impossible to overstate how grim and harmful mass #surveillance is” 💯 📄 www.dnronline.com/news/public_... #deflock #alpr

this is the FINAL day for this call for questions. you can ask a question to @profferguson.bsky.social as a reply below, or on our form! boltsmag.org/how-police-t...

‘They make us targets’ Residents call for city council to ‘De-Flock’ Harrisonburg

Last week, Virginia’s governor vetoed several criminal justice reforms, including one that would have expanded deferred sentencing in criminal cases and another that would have blocked felony charges for having trace amounts of controlled substances.

The General Assembly reconvenes at 12PM tomorrow, 4/22 to review the Gov’s actions on legislation passed during the 2026 Session. We’re closely watching our bills to Protect People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) and Mental Health Disorders HB246/SB335…

NEW: Flight data reveals that the LAPD's "Drone as First Responder" program—sold to the public as a public safety measure—is in fact being used to spy on anti-ICE/anti-Trump protests in Los Angeles. theintercept.com/2026/04/20/l...

Thoroughly researched and deeply alarming presenation by @justicefwdva.bsky.social last night. Thank you! We all learned so much. Please sign up to help & also sign up for Natl Wk of Action Against ALPRs #Harrisonburg #virginia

"Nearly two dozen were held in custody for more than 20 days...Teens who were detained alone were sent to Christian youth shelters in Michigan, which made it hard for their families to find them. And nearly half of the children detained have since left the country." sahanjournal.com/immigration/...

Tomorrow night--- Dinner provided, rsvp at link below and bring a friend! @justicefwdva.bsky.social will help provide context to Harrisonburg community concerns about Flock #surveillance cameras and data security. @rockdemsva.bsky.social #harrisonburg

People who agree to a Fourth Amendment waiver give up protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, allowing police to search a person or their home at any time over years-long periods.

As an answer to the classic “What would Jesus do?” question, “start robot wars” would be an unconventional response, to put it mildly. And yet, here we are.

NEWS: Virginia's governor vetoed a bill late last night that'd have banned prosecutors from pressuring Virginians into waiving their constitutional rights. That's right, local prosecutors often get defendants to sign away Fourth Amendment protections to get a plea — for years.

Imagine believing Va Senate Dems aren’t moderate *enough*. There are already de facto veto votes in Senate Courts, held by legislators with law degrees, who’ve prosecuted and defended cases, and sat through committee debates to ensure the concerns of VACA & police were taken into account. 1/

“I am deeply concerned about the amendments to SB351 and SB352 because they fall short of the urgent need to protect immigrant communities and uphold basic principles...The amendments would make the bills toothless, a right without a remedy." - @salimforva.bsky.social bluevirginia.us/2026/04/gov-...

I don’t expect @abigailspanberger.com to agree with criminal justice reform advocates often, but I do expect better than Youngkin-grade veto explanations Nothing in the press release regarding the Governor’s veto of SB23 (banning 4th Amendment plea waivers) is true. 1/

If Trump thinks the pope is too woke and soft on crime wait til he hears about Jesus

"Are you OK with #Flock employees or police officers or god knows else, remotely watching your children practice gymnastics or watching your family members stretching or running on a treadmill?" jasonhunyar.substack.com/p/why-are-fl... #deflock #surveillance

This 50 yr old woman spent 5 months in jail accused of a crime in a state she's never even been to, because Clearview AI misidentified her as the suspect. A judge signed off on it, cops went along with it, no process in place to even question the AI. www.cnn.com/2026/03/29/u...

The number of Virginians whose rights were restored by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin declined again, for the fourth year in a row, according to the annual report on pardons required by the state Constitution.

Pa. Supreme Court strikes down mandatory life sentences for felony murder convictions https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2026/03/pennsylvania-felony-second-degree-murder-supreme-court-ruling-justice-system/

AOC: Companies like Palantir are mining endlessly the data and privacy of the American people—keeping track of everything that they say and do. And sending it to a militarized government. 

Some good news: the public pressure worked! The school board has scheduled a work session for SRO’s on Thursday, April 16th at 5pm in the CHS library. Good work everyone!

"At least 66 automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) are being used across Loudoun County, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office and Leesburg Police."

URGENT UPDATE ON BUDGET HEARING: Public comment needed. No registration required for public comment in the “legislation on the agenda comment” portion of Monday’s City Council meeting at 6PM. Come speak in opposition to funding for FLOCK ALPRs (Annual Budget - ORD 2026.063 & RPS Budget - 2026.064)!

when sheriffs bring in massive surveillance equipment with zero public oversight or even approval, because private surveillance corporations say they’ll just pay for it: boltsmag.org/verona-wisco...

On this day in 1924, Virginia passed the Eugenical Sterilization Act authorizing forced sterilization and enacted a prohibition on interracial marriage in an effort to "purify the white race."

Many cities have ended contracts with surveillance companies in the last year, largely due to concerns over sharing data with federal agencies. “Surveillance can be weaponized. It leaves us ripe for abuse,” says an analyst for the ACLU of Wisconsin.

It’s National Public Defense Day! At Justice Forward Virginia we’ve acknowledged the occasion like the true public defenders we are—by being way too busy to even notice until now. Happy day to our friends and colleagues! #publicdefenders

BREAKING: Drug residue can’t be used, but possession of it is a felony carrying up to 10 years in prison. HB637 eliminates the unnecessary felony. And after almost a decade of work our bill is headed to the Governor with bipartisan support! Thanks @katrinacallsen.com and the many patrons before her!

BREAKING: Senator Jennifer Boysko’s (@jenniferboysko.com) SB335 to Protect People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD) & Mental Health Disorders is on its way to the Gov’s desk with broad bipartisan support! Six years in the making! Thank you, Senator & our countless partners!

Richmond PD has paid over a million bucks to Flock, a controversial Atlanta-based surveillance-tech firm backed by right-wing billionaires. My investigation for the @richmonder.bsky.social compares RPD's claims about the system to independent scholarship, national reporting, and city payment data.

For the past few months, @richmonddsa.bsky.social has been organizing with other organizations and rank-and-file Richmond residents concerned about personal liberty, racialized policing, and federal exploitation to call on city officials to cancel RPD's Flock contracts:

Mayor @dannyavula.bsky.social has consistently backed RPD's Flock use, insisting that the always-on surveillance network can be regulated to prevent abuse (by local cops, federal deportation squads, hackers for hire, etc.) This stance is virtually identical to that of RPD Chief Rick Edwards:

According to Flock and the Richmond Police Chief, we are “powerful entities” using “coordinated attacks” to take down their mass surveillance … with 1/10th of the budget RPD has spent on cameras alone and 1/60,000th the money of Flock. ROFL 🤣 www.richmonder.org/rpd-has-spen...

This schizophrenic man gouged out both of his own eyes and ate one of them but apparently prosecutors believe he's mentally competent to face execution in Texas. This is one of the more embarrassing cases Texas has produced in recent memory. Just pointless cruelty and very willful ignorance.

Home security systems are safety theater. They make us feel like we’re in control, but they don’t actually reduce the risk of violence. If anything, they’re a part of a broader, predatory industry that exploits our fears and *increases* the risk of violence to keep us spending money.

After revelations that companies like Ring have been selling home security footage to ICE, the most common defense of keeping a camera up seems to be, “But what if I’m stalked?” And as a violence researcher, I’m just here to state for the record that police do not care about your security footage.

"Church Hill was Flock-free when Steven Keener first moved in nine years ago. It didn’t stay that way."

Your Data Will Be Used Against You (and not just by ICE/CPB). All these technologies will make their way to ordinary law enforcement.

"Flock cameras reverse a core principle of liberty: The presumption of innocence. Instead of investigating specific suspects, they collect and store everyone’s movements “just in case.” This is not targeted policing; it is ambient monitoring." #deflock #surveillance #alpr

This week at The Lookout, I profiled Steven Keener, the CNU crime research who co-authored a first-of-its-kind study on how cops place automated license plate readers. (Spoiler alert: race appears to be a big factor!)

"...not only were the CDC’s crime data less predictive of Flock ALPR placements in Hampton Roads than race and class—they were fully negative predictors. “I cannot emphasize how surprised I was,” he said."

So much effort was put into HB441, which sought to conform the Judicial Inquiry & Review Comm’n to best practices, and make it so half-assed, end of session public shaming wouldn’t be Va’s only form of judicial accountability Last night Senate courts basically treated HB441 like junk mail. Harrumph

"For the first time, we are hearing directly from the two men who were found not guilty of a Sussex County police officer’s 1998 murder, yet still sentenced to life in prison."

Recently, we asked for questions from readers about what local and state leaders are doing in response to the federal immigration crackdown. Our new explainer shares some answers. Our entire team worked on this and it’s *really* worth a read: boltsmag.org/how-state-an...

Fourth Amendment waivers erode trust in law enforcement and are weaponized by police and prosecutors. They are used to specifically target Black and Brown communities, explains Richmond Public Defender, Ashley Shapiro:

BREAKING: Virginia prosecutors can force people to give up their Fourth Amendment rights. 4A waivers permit police to stop & search people at any time for any reason, in RVA 96% of people with them are Black. Our bill banning 4A waivers—SB23–is headed to the Gov! Thank you @salimforva.bsky.social!

ON THE DOCKET: Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Senate Courts of Justice meets 30 minutes after Senate. JIRC Reform, Restorative Justice, Eliminate Felony Charge for Possession of Drug Residue, Mental Heath Evidence Fix, and Eliminate Prejudicial Use of Priors lis.virginia.gov/session-deta...

Louis Rossmann on a recent report on law enforcement #ALPR use in #Virginia. "The best way to deal with this is not to write a #privacy policy, or to have a set of laws, the best way to deal with this is to never build the mass #surveillance network to begin with." Ban ALPRs! 🚫 #deflock

At least 33 agencies said they are violating the new laws Virginia created to regulate Flock cameras (or ALPRs) last year. Several reported still sharing Flock feeds out-of-state. Lawmakers made violations of the rules a misdemeanor. richmond.com/news/state-r... #RVA #VALeg