Federal agency used Richmond license plate readers for immigration enforcement without permission
VENN
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- A federal agency used the Richmond Police's license plate reader program to conduct unauthorized immigration enforcement activities, according to the department.
On Tuesday, July 8, the Richmond Police Department (RPD) issued a press release regarding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) use of its license plate reader program to investigate immigration enforcement-related cases.
Between early February and mid-June, the ATF searched just under 50 unique license plates and received hundreds of results related to those plates. Nearly 30% of those plates were investigated for immigration enforcement-related purposes, RPD said.
This sort of use violates the department's operational standards, per the release. The ATF also did not explicitly disclose that it would be using this technology for immigration enforcement when it requested access to the license plate reader system.
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“ATF is a valued partner in our efforts to combat violent crime in Richmond. But their analyst should not have been granted access to our system — and absolutely should not have used it for immigration enforcement purposes,” said Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards in the press release. “I’ve been clear with the public, with city leadership and within this department: the Richmond Police Department does not enforce federal immigration law and we do not investigate a person’s immigration status. If ATF had formally requested access for that purpose, I would have denied it.”
Going forward, no federal agencies will be granted access to RPD's license plate reader program, according to the department.
But what exactly happened?
The department provided a timeline of these events, including RPD's discovery of the unauthorized use and the actions it took in response.
ATF initially granted access in early February
An analyst with the ATF requested access to RPD's license plate reader program on Feb. 7, saying the agency would use the program to "assist [its] agents and TFOs [Task Force Officers] with investigations in and around Richmond," according to the release.
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The RPD administrator associated with the license plate reader program at the time granted access to the ATF analyst.
At the time of this decision, the ATF was "not actively involved with immigration enforcement," according to RPD. However, that changed in March, when "the mission of the ATF changed" to include such activities.
Incident at Farmville detention center in March, resulting ATF inquiries
On March 4, four detainees escaped the Immigration Centers of America (ICA) facility located in the Farmville area of Prince Edward County. At least three of them have since been recaptured.
The ATF analyst made "numerous inquiries" within RPD's license plate reader program to assist in this investigation, per the release.
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Specifically, the ATF analyst inquired about 49 unique license plates and received over 400 results. The department said over a quarter of these results were related to the Farmville incident.
According to RPD, 35 of the license plates were associated with cases that the ATF would typically investigate alongside RPD or other partners -- including firearms offenses or violent crime -- "regardless of a subject's immigration status."
The remaining 14 were related to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) immigration enforcement cases. Per the release, the ATF told RPD that all of these cases "involved individuals [who] had committed a crime or had a criminal background."
The ATF also told RPD that no arrests were made "solely" off of information obtained through the department's license plate reader program.
Additionally, the ATF analyst did not include a state name when making a license plate query. Because of this, the ATF analyst "inadvertently accessed Illinois vehicle data with 'ICE' in the query field, which is in violation of Illinois law," according to RPD.
"According to the ATF, all queries made using the system were for investigations in the state of Virginia," the department said. "Pursuant to the new Virginia law taking effect on July 1, 2025, other states no longer have connections to Virginia license plate information."
RPD leadership discovers unauthorized use in June, terminates ATF's access
This unauthorized use was discovered by the current RPD administrator of the license plate camera program on June 11. The former administrator "has since separated from the department." A police spokesperson told 8News that he could not confirm whether the former administrator's departure was related to this incident, as it is a "personnel matter."
"Within five minutes of the new RPD administrator recognizing the ATF analyst had access to the RPD system and was using it in violation [of] RPD guidelines, the administrator terminated the ATF analyst’s access to the system," the department said.
The department then conducted an "immediate audit" to ensure that "no other federal partner or other user outside of RPD personnel had access to the license plate reader program." According to RPD, this audit confirmed no other users had access.
On Wednesday, July 2, RPD received an inquiry from a member of the media regarding “a set of Flock license plate searches the Richmond PD ran from around March 31- April 9, 2025," which "show ‘ICE’ in the Flock Safety audit log Reason field.”
"Upon receiving this request, a more comprehensive investigation was conducted by RPD leadership," the department said.
ATF leadership then met with Edwards and other senior command staff at RPD on Monday, July 7 to talk about this incident. During this meeting, the ATF "agreed to provide more data on the searches [it] conducted," per the release.
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Anthony Spotswood, ATF Special Agent in Charge, provided the following statement in RPD's release:
“We value our partnership with the Richmond Police Department and regret that this situation occurred. Our ATF analyst accessed RPD’s system in support of ATF’s overall mission and although all the queries involved criminal activity, they were not in compliance with RPD’s guidelines. While our investigative analysts support both criminal and immigration-related efforts, the majority of these searches were directly tied to local investigations involving gun trafficking, violent offenders, and fraudulent firearms purchases. In one instance, a potential residency violation may have prompted the use of ‘ICE’ in a search field — but all queries were related to criminal activity, not civil immigration enforcement.” Anthony Spotswood, ATF Special Agent in Charge
You can read Edwards' full statement below:
“ATF is a valued partner in our efforts to combat violent crime in Richmond. But their analyst should not have been granted access to our system — and absolutely should not have used it for immigration enforcement purposes. I’ve been clear with the public, with city leadership, and within this department: the Richmond Police Department does not enforce federal immigration law, and we do not investigate a person’s immigration status. If ATF had formally requested access for that purpose, I would have denied it.
It is frustrating this occurred. However, I appreciate ATF’s willingness to acknowledge what happened and clarify the nature of the searches. We remain committed to working with our federal partners on the investigation and prosecution of violent crime. But moving forward, no federal agencies will have access to our license plate reader program. This tool is vital to solving serious crimes in our city, and we will ensure it is used lawfully, responsibly, and in alignment with Richmond’s values." Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards
