ACLU Sues Huntington Over Flock Surveillance Contract

A Huntington resident is suing the city following the approval of a $2.1 million contract with Flock Safety. 

Huntington City Council voted 6-4 to approve the contract during a meeting Monday that stretched into the early hours of Tuesday morning. More than 50 community members spoke at various points during the more than eight-hour meeting, almost all of them opposed the Flock contract.    

Flock Group sells and manages automated license plate recognition (ALPR), video surveillance, and gunfire locator systems, as well as supporting software to integrate the data gathered by these technologies. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV), the Haslam Law Firm, and Glazer, Saad, Anderson filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Cabell County Circuit Court on behalf of Greg Jimison.  

The lawsuit alleges that Huntington City Council neglected several key procedural matters in the process of awarding the contract. However, ACLU-WV Legal Director Aubrey Sparks said in a press release more legal action relating to the contract itself could follow.  

“Simply put, the city acted hastily and did not follow its own laws when approving this contract, so it should be considered null and void from the start. City code is clear that a private company cannot use property for commercial purposes,” she said. “If the city wanted to grant Flock the right to use property belonging to the City of Huntington, there’s a proper process by which to do that. That process includes public notice, a public hearing, and other procedural safeguards to make sure that city property is used appropriately.”  

None of these steps were followed, she said. 

Flock Safety has been at the center of numerous controversies across the United States in recent years. Major cities like Los Angeles have allowed their Flock Safety contracts to expire, while numerous smaller municipalities have banned the technology. 

“As other towns and cities are waking up to the egregious abuses of this technology, Huntington officials worked behind closed doors for months to thwart the will of their constituents and push this invasive surveillance on the city,” ACLU-WV Executive Director Eli Baumwell said. “We will not stand by while the city runs roughshod over the will of the people and the privacy rights of every person in Huntington.”   

West Virginia communities have also voiced concerns over the use of ALPR technology. Residents in Morgantown have recently taken their opposition to the city’s implementation of Flock cameras to the Monongalia City Council. Last year, the council approved opioid settlement funds for 20 license plate reader cameras.  

Thursday the Putnam County Sherrif’s Office announced on its Facebook page that it was pausing its installation of a Flock system that was contracted in June 2025. 

“Due to public concerns, and after much discussion with the Putnam County Commission, this system will not be activated in Putnam County until further research and public education can be conducted,” Sheriff Bobby Eggleton said in the post. “When and if this system is activated, the public will be notified immediately.” 

Barring court intervention, the cameras are expected to be installed around Huntington by Sept. 1.  

Read the full petition, including a copy of the Flock standard contract below: