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The Richmond Police Department has shut down its automated license plate reader system after discovering that a configuration error allowed some outside law enforcement agencies to run limited searches of Richmond’s data, the department said in a social media post.
Police said Flock Safety had notified the department that the error allowed external agencies to run very limited, plate-specific searches that could have revealed small portions of Richmond’s ALPR data.
Richmond City Council approves $1 million contract expansion with license plate camera company Flock
In a split vote, the Richmond City Council approved a $1 million amendment to a contract with Flock Safety on Tuesday, expanding the city’s use of automated license plate readers and pan-tilt-zoom cameras for city facilities and streets. District 1 Councilmember Jamelia Brown, Richmond’s new Vice Mayor Cesar
Soren Hemmila
“This was not full-system access and affected only narrow, plate-specific queries,” the department said.
Officials said the issue was unintentional and was disabled as soon as it was identified. ALPR data is stored for 30 days, and police said they have no evidence that any outside agency viewed or misused the information, including for immigration-enforcement purposes.
Because multiple agencies were affected, Richmond temporarily turned off the system until Flock Safety provides verified safeguards to prevent similar problems.
Police said they plan to resume using the network once those safeguards are in place and remain committed to using the technology in a way that is transparent and protective of residents’ privacy.
Richmond has used the Flock system since April 2023. Police said the data has become an important investigative tool and credited it with helping make more than 272 arrests, identifying suspect vehicles in 12 homicide cases, recovering more than 258 stolen vehicles, and generating investigative leads in more than 889 cases. The system also issued alerts for more than 6,670 stolen vehicles and more than 759 vehicles wanted in felony investigations.
According to the department’s public transparency portal, Richmond’s network includes 184 cameras. Over the most recent 30-day period, the system recorded more than 431,000 vehicle detections and nearly 7,910 hot-list hits, which are alerts triggered when a scanned plate matches one associated with a crime.
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