News

Tracking Flock cameras

by on 2024-08-27
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Just a quick update - we're testing out an experimental app for crowdsourced tracking of surveillance technology. You can take a look here: https://tracker.openoversightva.org/

We're starting out looking at Flock cameras specifically, since they're seeing a wave of popularity among police departments nationwide. But feel free to submit other surveillance tech that you spot in the wild! You can read more about some of the types of surveillance out there on the EFF's Atlas of Surveillance.


Welcome to OpenOversight VA: The Police Data Project.

by alicee on 2023-06-12
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OpenOversight VA:The Police Data Project is Virginia's only statewide police transparency database. We maintain data on over 295 police departments and sheriff's offices in Virginia through public records aggregation, open-source intelligence research, community contributions, and, most of all, hundreds of regular Freedom of Information Act requests. Look up police officers, badge numbers, sheriff's deputies, and law enforcement records to access names, incidents, and work histories of police department employees.

Created in October 2022 by Alice Minium, Kevin Finity, and Bryan Davis, we are an independent, decentralized, and fully autonomous collective run entirely by dedicated volunteer researchers, digital archivists, data enthusiasts, and others with a passion for police transparency through public records. We were granted 501(C)(3) nonprofit status in May 2023.

We've collected data on over 30,000 sworn law enforcement officers in Virginia from Fairfax County to Richmond to Virginia Beach to Culpeper County, archived over 100 incidents of misconduct and brutality, added over 1,000 photos, and published over 92 police & sheriff's office policy manuals, some never before released to the public.

Our database will always be free. You can donate here to help us cover FOIA fees and civil litigation. We hope our data is useful to you as you join us in the fight for police transparency across Virginia.

This project was born out of the 2020 George Floyd Uprising in Richmond, VA. It is dedicated to victims of police brutality, those brave enough to share their encounters with police officers, and every officer who "doesn't have a name." Now they do.


Updates (May 2023)

by alicee on 2023-06-02
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Fees from the Hampton Sheriff's Office, A Missing Chief of Police in Chesterfield, & Getting Official With the IRS

Here are a few updates on what's been new with OpenOversight VA this past week.

FOIA Case in Chesterfield Delayed

On Thursday, June 1, the hearing for our FOIA petition for mandamus in Chesterfield County was delayed due to failure of service of process. (When filing a petition for FOIA violations with the local court, there's a small fee paid to the Sheriff's Office so they will serve the papers to the defendant.) According to the notes received by the judge, the Chesterfield Sheriff's Office was "unable to locate" the Chief of Police and the County Attorney to issue them service. The judge said the form simply said "Not Found."

The hearing is now scheduled for 10:30 AM on Thursday, June 8, during which time we can hopefully find the Chief of Police. You can read the court filing on DocumentCloud (Alice Minium v Chesterfield Police Department).

More Steep Charges from Newport News, Hampton, Vinton, and Arlington County

In our ongoing project to obtain and publicize policy manuals from law enforcement agencies across the state, several departments this week issued excessively high estimates of fees.

The Hampton Sheriff's Office provided a cost estimate of $2,267.60 for their manuals, the Newport News Sheriff's Office estimated "over $1,000," the Vinton Police Department charged $1,000 exactly, and the Arlington County Sheriff's Office charged $421.25 for the first five chapters of their manual alone, which was their response to our attempt to modify our request.

From Arlington County Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Maurice Dozier:

The first five chapters of the ACSO policy manual, according to the Table of Contents we required (that they provided "as a courtesy"), include topics such as "Personal Grooming," "Meritorious Service Awards," "Continuing Education," and "Virginia Freedom of Information Act."

From FOIA officer Dorothy Wikan at the Newport News Sheriff's Office:

Several agencies have arrived at a total cost of "$1,000" exactly. From Brandon Hill, Police Services Administrator at the Vinton Police Department:

Finally, last but not least, here's an excerpt from the letter we received from Bionca Moore, Commander of Intake (#19), at the Hampton Sheriff's Office. After reminding us we have outstanding fees totaling $157.95 per a previous request for a roster of their employees, Moore continued:

To their credit (unlike Newport News and Vinton), the Hampton Sheriff's Office did provide a cost breakdown. The cost breakdown indicates "Review and redaction of all polices (135 total)" will take employees 40 hours at a staff rate of $56.69 an hour.

The footer of the letter cites the agency's accreditation status, along with the inset quote: "Committed to Excellence."

Most Agencies Still Comply

To give you a sense of context, here's how these law enforcement agencies could have responded (and how the Laurel Ridge Community College Police Department did):

From the Powhatan Police Department:

The Norton Police Department:

The Frederick County Sheriff's Office:

From the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement:

Official Incorporation, Nonprofit Status Now Pending

In other news, on May 26, 2023 OpenOversight VA filed with the State Corporation Committee as an official registered entity. On May 30, 2023, we completed our application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status to the Internal Revenue Service.

Speaking of finances, as we've mentioned, we've had some fees for this process. Thanks to donations, we're now current with the Richmond Police, the Virginia State Police, the Richmond Sheriff's Office, the Newport News Sheriff's Office, Fairfax County Police, and over eight other agencies who had opted to charge us FOIA fees which we had yet to pay. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who's helped out-- this is your project.

We've set up a Venmo (@openoversightva) and a CashApp ($openoversight) to make donating and finance tracking easier, and we're still over a thousand short of what we owe. Anything helps and all funds have a tremendous impact by returning us data and the ability to challenge FOIA violations or overall secrecy by police departments. Thanks for helping hold law enforcement accountable as we work for transparency through public records and investigative research that creates the resources you see on this site. Feel free to email info@openoversightva.org or alice@openoversightva.org with any questions.

--Alice Minium

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Spring Cleaning

by Kevin on 2023-05-16
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Current status update - 27,100 officers.

Our FOIA requests have been busy as usual - 40 last week - but we've also been working on site development, and planning for volunteer training. We're also investigating the feasibility of filing as a 501(c)(3).