Colonial Beach VA PD

Transparency Portal

Last Updated: Sun Dec 07 2025
Overview
Colonial Beach VA PD uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising on individual privacy. Colonial Beach VA PD utilizes retroactive search to solve crimes after they've occurred. Additionally, Colonial Beach VA PD utilizes real time alerting of hotlist vehicles to capture wanted criminals. In an effort to ensure proper usage and guardrails are in place, they have made the below policies and usage statistics available to the public.
Policies
What's Detected
License Plates, Vehicles
What's Not Detected
Facial recognition, People, Gender, Race
Acceptable Use Policy
Data is used for law enforcement purposes only. Data is owned by Colonial Beach VA PD and is never sold to 3rd parties.
Prohibited Uses
Immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment or intimidation, usage based solely on a protected class (i.e. race, sex, religion), Personal use.
Access Policy
All system access requires a valid reason and is stored indefinitely.
Hotlist Policy
Hotlist hits are required to be human verified prior to action.
Usage
Data retention (in days)
21 days
Number of LPR and other cameras
4
Hotlists Alerted On
NCMEC Amber Alert, NCIC - VSP
Unique vehicles detected in the last 30 days
14,818
Hotlist hits in the last 30 days
1
Searches in the last 30 days
12
Additional Info
Recent Success Story
Additional Information
Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs) 427.1 VERSION Review Date Effective Date Approving Authority Revised Date 12/1/23 05/11/2023 Les J. Parsons, Chief of Police 12/9/24 427.2 PURPOSE AND SCOPE The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance for the capture, storage and use of digital data obtained through the use of Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology. 427.3 POLICY The policy of the Colonial Beach Police Department is to utilize ALPR technology to capture and store digital license plate data and images while recognizing the established privacy rights of the public. All data and images gathered by the ALPR are for the official use of this department. Because such data may contain confidential information, it is not open to public review. 427.4 ADMINISTRATION The ALPR technology, also known as License Plate Recognition (LPR), allows for the automated detection of license plates. It is used by the Colonial Beach Police Department to convert data associated with vehicle license plates for official law enforcement purposes, including identifying stolen or wanted vehicles, stolen license plates and missing persons. It may also be used to gather information related to active warrants, homeland security, electronic surveillance, suspect interdiction and stolen property recovery. All installation and maintenance of ALPR equipment, as well as ALPR data retention and access, shall be managed by the Patrol Operations Commander. The Patrol Operations Commander will assign members under his/her command to administer the day-to-day operation of the ALPR equipment and data. 427.5 OPERATIONS Use of an ALPR is restricted to the purposes outlined below. Department members shall not use, or allow others to use, the equipment or database records for any unauthorized purpose. (a) An ALPR shall only be used for official law enforcement business. (b) An ALPR may be used in conjunction with any routine patrol operation or criminal investigation. Reasonable suspicion or probable cause is not required before using an ALPR. (c) While an ALPR may be used to canvass license plates around any crime scene, particular consideration should be given to using ALPR-equipped vehicles to canvass areas around homicides, shootings and other major incidents. Partial license plates reported during major crimes should be entered into the ALPR system in an attempt to identify suspect vehicles. (d) No member of this department shall operate ALPR equipment or access ALPR data without first completing department-approved training. (e) No ALPR operator may access confidential department, state or federal data unless authorized to do so. (f) If practicable, the officer should verify an ALPR response through the appropriate official law enforcement database before taking enforcement action that is based solely on an ALPR alert. 427.6 DATA COLLECTION AND RETENTION The Patrol Operations Commander is responsible for ensuring systems and processes are in place for the proper collection and retention of ALPR data. Data will be transferred from vehicles to the designated storage in accordance with department procedures. All stored ALPR data should be retained in accordance with the established records retention schedule. Thereafter, ALPR data should be purged unless it has become, or it is reasonable to believe it will become, evidence in a criminal or civil action or is subject to a discovery request or other lawful action to produce records. In those circumstances, the applicable data should be downloaded onto portable media and booked into evidence. 427.7 ACCOUNTABILITY All data will be closely safeguarded and protected by both procedural and technological means. The Colonial Beach Police Department will observe the following safeguards regarding access to and use of stored data: (a) All ALPR data downloaded to the mobile workstation and in storage shall be accessible only through a login/password-protected system capable of documenting all access of information by name, date and time. (b) Members approved to access ALPR data under these guidelines are permitted to access the data for legitimate law enforcement purposes only, such as when the data relate to a specific criminal investigation or department-related civil or administrative action. (c) ALPR system audits should be conducted on a regular basis. 427.8 RELEASING ALPR DATA The ALPR data may be shared only with other law enforcement or prosecutorial agencies for official law enforcement purposes or as otherwise permitted by law, using the following procedures: (a) The agency makes a written request for the ALPR data that includes: 1. The name of the agency. 2. The name of the person requesting. 3. The intended purpose of obtaining the information. (b) The request is reviewed by the Patrol Operations Commander. (c) The approved request is retained on file. Requests for ALPR data by non-law enforcement or non-prosecutorial agencies will be processed as provided in the Records Maintenance and Release Policy.