Chesterfield cites ABLE certification in catching surveillance tech abuse amid regional Flock exodus

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Chesterfield County officials say a Georgetown Law certification program helped uncover suspicious use of surveillance technology by a department employee — even as three neighboring localities announced they are stepping away from the same surveillance company.

Goochland County, Henrico County and the City of Richmond have announced they are stepping away from Flock, an automated license plate reader (ALPR) company, in part due to concerns related to privacy and the potential for abuse.

Chesterfield County detailed the suspicious transactions in a press release issued earlier this month. Authorities also credited a 2024 certification the department received from Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C. — the ABLE Project — with helping make that discovery possible.

Chesterfield resident Matthew Baucolm said the scrutiny of the technology is not surprising.

"People are already suspicious of this technology and aren't the fondest of it," Baucolm said.

Fellow resident Mariela Crawford said the technology should be used responsibly.

"I would hope that anybody else who would be considering doing something wrong would keep that in mind. We need to use it for the good, not the bad," Crawford said.

ABLE stands for Active Bystandership of Law Enforcement. The program was created by the Center for Innovation in Community Safety at Georgetown Law.

Tahir Duckett, director of the Center for Innovation in Community Safety, described the program's purpose.

"It's a program launched in the fall of 2020 designed to reduce officer mistakes, prevent misconduct, and promote officer wellness," Duckett said.

The program also addresses a common barrier to intervention among officers — many want to act when they witness potential problems, but do not feel equipped to do so.
"Humans think that they are really good at intervening to prevent harm, but in most case folks aren't. They don't feel like they have the right language or they're afraid that their intervention might be misheard or misunderstood," Duckett said.

ABLE is designed to address those barriers — helping officers step in before problems escalate, or prevent them from arising in the first place.

"That lack of intervention can lead to really awful harm down the road including down the road including potentially disastrous consequences not only for victims, but for the people who could have intervened," Duckett said.

Duckett said the program also aims to reduce the risk of job loss or lawsuits and improve police and community relations. More than 425 police departments across the county have been certified with ABLE.

"I believe deeply that as much as we should try to get upstream and try to prevent harm from happening in the first place, and I think ABLE is a really strong example of us doing that," Duckett said.

The Chesterfield police chief noted in the press release that the department would conduct a review over the next 30 days and make appropriate improvements. The release did not say whether changes were coming to the department's contract with Flock.

Duckett said the outcome in Chesterfield sets a positive example for law enforcement.

"I think it's encouraging and it should be encouraging to the employees of the Chesterfield police department that when somebody does have the courage to speak out, they aren't punished for that, that it taken seriously and that that's a good model for officer to flow with one another," Duckett said.

Click here for more information on ABLE.

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