Despite breaches, Newbille, Avula still back RPD's controversial Flock system

Less than nine months into the second Trump administration, Americans have been treated to nearly daily reports of police brutality, de facto state kidnappings, and inhumane incarcerations carried out by masked agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and fellow travelers at every level of government. This reign of terror is unfolding across the country, and in the Richmond area, too. In this violent, often unconstitutional campaign, feds have tracked their human targets with Flock Safety’s controversial, AI-powered surveillance cameras—the same devices, mounted on slim black posts topped with little solar panels, that Richmond Police Department uses here in the East End.

Civil-liberties watchdogs and immigrations advocates say these networked cameras, known generally as automated license-plate readers (ALPRs), are a “mass-surveillance system” inherently exploitable by bad actors, as Trump’s blitzkrieg against migrants has already repeatedly demonstrated. “It’s very troublesome,” said Rob Poggenklass, the executive director of Justice Forward Virginia, a non-partisan criminal justice reform advocacy group, in a recent phone interview with The Lookout. He cited the RPD’s admission in early July that a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) had tapped into the city’s Flock system for “immigration enforcement” purposes. “The potential for abuse and misuse and targeting of people with this technology… I don't think you can overstate it.”

The 7th District’s longtime representative on City Council, Cynthia Newbille, is unfazed. In a brief statement provided to The Lookout via email, the current Council President said she “wholeheartedly support[s]” RPD’s work (and implicitly, its use of Flock’s tech) because the department vowed to keep federal agencies from querying Richmond’s surveillance footage and “now performs regular audits of accounts to ensure no one has unintentional access.”

A search of local media indicates this is Newbille’s first statement to the press about the polarizing surveillance devices, which were installed in Church Hill nearly a year ago.

We only the have one documented instance of feds finagling Richmond’s Flock system so far. RPD Chief Rick Edwards insisted in a July 8th statement that it will not happen again. But reporting from across the country before and since shows that federal agents have used a variety of methods to search Flock footage and data to carry out Trump’s siege on immigrant communities, often circumventing local and platform policies and occasionally relying on MAGA-supporting local police. (That’s not to mention the cops that have used ALPRs to stalk ex-girlfriends and women who have had abortions.)

Newbille’s full-throated backing for Flock in the face of these documented breaches was echoed by Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin, who is cruising to reelection in November after a Democratic primary victory over challenger and Church Hill resident Tom Barbour (an outspoken Flock foe) in June. “Commentary on what could happen or on what is happening in other jurisdictions does not change my opinion that the benefits of information obtained from the use of Flock cameras by RPD (not by the Feds) greatly outweigh the negatives,” she told The Lookout via email.

A statement provided to The Lookout by Mayor Danny Avula—a two-decade resident of Church Hill—offered more qualified support for RPD’s use of the system, calling it “a vital tool in solving violent crimes in our city” that must be balanced with his concerns over “privacy and appropriate usage.” Like Newbille, he pointed to the RPD’s newly implemented audit schedule and policy against sharing Richmond’s Flock data as important guardrails. He also cited the Virginia law that took effect on July 1st that prohibits agencies within the state from retaining footage for more than three weeks and from sharing it with counterparts in other states or the federal government.

“RPD will soon implement a general order to formalize these safeguards, consistent with state guidance,” said Avula, who has been emphatic that Richmond will not coordinate with ICE on its deportation program.

An RPD spokesperson, James Mercante, told The Lookout via email that the department currently has no written policy for disciplining or penalizing officers that misuse the system. “The RPD general order will be established following the guidance of the Virginia State Police’s model policy” for compliance with the new law, said Mercante. He noted that all RPD investigators have been instructed to follow the law, § 2.2-5517, which makes unauthorized use a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Of course, there are some inherent and well-understood challenges to policing the police. “Who’s going to enforce the law against cops?” said Poggenklass, who has been working at the General Assembly to curtail the use of Flock and other ALPR networks in the Commonwealth since 2022. “It’s extremely rare. So I'm not a believer that a Class 1 misdemeanor is going to prevent officer abuse and misuse of LPR data.” As for exploitation of the AI-enabled surveillance system that RPD has trained on the East End by Trump’s immigration squads, he was similarly unimpressed. “This is not an administration that's terribly concerned about how law operates,” he said wryly. “A state law that prohibits access by the federal government is not going to stop this federal government from accessing data, period.”

And for the foreseeable future, RPD is not going to stop collecting it from its Flock devices in the East End.

📜 Possum Poetry

Possum Poetry is original verse written exclusively for The Lookout by Penelope Poubelle, the Lookout’s litter critter-at-large. If you spot roadside trash you’d like her to immortalize in dogger

el, email a photo to [email protected]. All submissions anonymous!

🚴‍♂️ Ride and Dive 2025 posts record attendance

Your humble Lookout editor was unable to attend the sixth-annual Ride and Dive this past weekend, but nearly 115 people were—the highest attendance the event has seen since founder Alex Fisher rode the inaugural circuit with a solitary friend back in 2019. “Big success,” he texted The Lookout this past week, sharing the above group photo.¹ “Everything went about as well as it could have… It was by far the largest Ride and Dive so far.”

When we last spoke, Fisher had noted that a pair of participants had done Ride and Dive 2024 on a tandem bike, which was a first for the event. Turns out, there was more groundbreaking velo-quatic action this past Saturday. “Two women did the whole thing on bike share bikes,” Fisher relayed. “I loved it. I let them know they were making Ride and Dive history.”

If you, like me, missed out on the fun, I’ve got good news. Fisher already has a date set for Ride and Dive 7: September 6th, 2026. “You gotta get it on your calendar for next year,” he told me. Hear, hear—and now I’m telling you.

🪧 Labor Day rally recap

As promised, I hit the “Workers Over Billionaires” rally at Monroe Park this past Monday. The turnout was pretty good, especially considering the 4:30pm start time—I Jacobs’ methoded an estimate of at least 1,000 people. I took a few photos and videos from the event that I included in the brief report below, published as a web-only piece earlier this week. Check it out:

Obviously, this coverage ranges far beyond The Lookout’s East End remit, but it seemed newsworthy enough to warrant the deviation. Let me know if you’d like more occasional dispatches like this from citywide events:

Or if you hate them, I guess. Actually, on second thought, keep that to yourself.

📢 Happenings on The Hill

• No mo’ Union Market kitchen: Until they sort out unspecified “water issues.” That’s a nerve-wracking phrase in Richmond in 2025, eh? Keep an eye on Instagram for updates.

• Sunset treats: Davvero Gelato will be posted up at Libby Hill Park this Sunday from 5-8pm-ish. Here’s the scoop. 

• No mo’ JewFro: Regular dinner service, that is. The Shockoe Bottom restaurant says it’ll still run ticketed dinners and other events. RVAHub has the story.

• Prost presale: Triple Crossing Beer’s first ever Oktoberfest is scheduled for Saturday (9/27) at the Fulton brewery, but you can buy your commemorative stein now through whenever they run out. More info.

• Hoggin’ it: Volunteer signups are now open for the Church Hill Association’s annual Hog on The Hill party (which itself takes place Saturday, 10/4). Secure your spot.

• Attention 40+ hunks: Second Bottle is still selling tickets for its next “Not That Speedy” dating event, but only for men—the women’s allotment is sold out! Score yours, señors.

Oh, and one more thing: The Lookout’s first-ever reader poll is still live! Cast your vote to help shape the future of your friendly neighborhood independent media outlet:

Happenings on The Hill is a digital bulletin board for events, causes, and other items of interest to East Enders that don’t necessarily merit full editorial treatment. Got something for a future edition? Email the relevant details, links, etc. to [email protected] for consideration!

📸 A Very CHill Photo

Want to share your Very CHill Photo from the neighborhood? Email it to [email protected] with your name as you’d like it to appear for publication, and the camera you shot it on.

1  Fisher was unsure of the last name of the lifeguard at Powhatan pool that snapped this photo. After publication, a Lookout who attended Ride and Dive reached out to provide it: Avula.