In June, administrators of the Richmond Police Department's license plate reader program learned an analyst with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had been granted access to the RPD system and had made queries for immigration enforcement in violation of RPD's operational standards. The ATF analyst's access was immediately terminated and, moving forward, no federal agencies will have access to RPD's license plate reader program.

"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 RPD Chief Rick Edwards. "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."

Facts and details:

• The ATF analyst requested access to the RPD license plate reader program on February 7, 2025, to "assist our agents and TFOs [Task Force Officers] with investigations in and around Richmond."
• At that time of their request, the ATF was not actively involved with immigration enforcement.
• The RPD administrator of the program granted access to the ATF analyst.
• The RPD administrator of the program has since separated from the department.
• In March 2025, the mission of the ATF changed to include immigration enforcement.
• In early March, four detainees from an ICE detention facility in Farmville, Virginia escaped. In the effort to assist the investigation, the ATF analyst made numerous inquiries to RPD's license plate reader program in an effort to apprehend the escapees.
• Overall, the ATF analyst queried 49 unique license plates receiving over 400 results to those inquiries. Over a quarter of the results received related to the incident in Farmville.
• The cases involved in the ATF analyst's queries were a mixture of a) cases that the ATF traditionally investigates with RPD and other partners, e.g. firearms offenses and/or violent crime, regardless of a subject's immigration status (35 of the 49 unique license plates) and b) cases that Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) pursues regarding immigration enforcement (14 of the 49 unique license plates). According to the ATF, all of those cases in the second group involved individuals that had committed a crime or had a criminal background.
• The analyst did not include the name of the state for a license plate query which produced a result from a different state for the same license plate numbers and letters. According to the ATF, all queries made using the system were for investigations in the state of Virginia. Pursuant to the new Virginia law taking effect on July 1, 2025, other states no longer have connections to Virginia license plate information.
• On June 11, the new RPD administrator received an alert from Flock Safety, the vendor of the license plate readers, that two searches from the ATF analyst inadvertently accessed Illinois vehicle data with "ICE" in the query field which is a violation of Illinois law.
• Within five minutes of the new RPD administrator recognizing the ATF analyst had access to the RPD system and was using it in violation to RPD guidelines, the administrator terminated the ATF analyst's access to the system.
• An immediate audit was conducted to ensure no other federal partner or other user outside of RPD personnel had access to the license plate reader program. No other user was found to have access.
• The new administrator began an internal investigation on how and when access was granted to the ATF analyst by the previous, departed manager.
• Last Wednesday, RPD received a media request to discuss "a set of Flock license plate searches the Richmond PD ran from around March 31- April 9, 2025. These searches show 'ICE' in the Flock Safety audit log Reason field." Upon receiving this request, a more comprehensive investigation was conducted by RPD leadership.
• ATF officials were invited to Richmond Police Headquarters to discuss the matter. Yesterday, the ATF officials and the ATF analyst met with Chief Edwards and senior command staff. ATF agreed to provide more data on the searches they conducted.
• ATF states that no apprehensions occurred solely off the information obtained by the ATF analyst using the RPD license plate reader technology.

"We value our partnership with the Richmond Police Department and regret that this situation occurred," said ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood. "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."

"It is frustrating this occurred. However, I appreciate ATF's willingness to acknowledge what happened and clarify the nature of the searches," said Chief Edwards. "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, VA - Today, Mayor Danny Avula announced that Brandon Hinton's assignment has concluded, and he will be returning to Henrico County on Monday, July 7th, at the request of the County. Mr. Hinton, who is Henrico County's Deputy Manager of Administration, has served on loan to the City as Acting Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (DCAO) for Finance and Administration since May 29, 2025.

"I am so thankful for Brandon and for the time he spent in City Hall with me and my team. It takes a special person to come into a completely unfamiliar work setting and dig in for the greater good. I appreciate his dedication and willingness to roll up his sleeves to move the work forward," said Mayor Danny Avula.

Operations in the Finance and Administration portfolio will continue uninterrupted with Rene Almaraz, Director of Procurement, serving as interim DCAO for Finance and Administration.

Since taking office, Mayor Avula has been focused on building a strong, skilled, and trustworthy leadership team. In January, he appointed Scott Morris as Director of Utilities, followed by Amy Popovich as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Human Services. More recently, he announced the hiring of a new Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Odie Donald II, who begins on July 9. These key leadership appointments reflect Mayor Avula's commitment to cultivating a thriving City Hall that gets things done.

Additional leadership announcements are expected this month-including a permanent DCAO for Finance and Administration.

RICHMOND, VA - Beginning July 7th, the City's Parking Enterprise Division will begin administering Fiscal Year 2026 parking fees, pursuant to the City's annual budget approved by City Council in May. Rate changes include, among others:

• An increase of parking meter fees by $.50, from $2.00 to $2.50 per hour. The purpose of metered parking in the City is to create turnover parking to allow for more short-term options in high demand areas.
• An increase in the penalty for exceeding a metered time limit, from $25 to $30.
• An increase, from $40 to $50, in the penalty for parking on a sidewalk, within 15 ft. of a fire hydrant, in front of a public or private driveway or any other location in violation of section 27-197 of the City Code.
• An increase of $5 for monthly parking fees in City-owned garages.

For more information on parking in Richmond, please visit https://go.rva.gov/parking

Cambios que entrarán en vigor el 7 de julio en las tarifas de los servicios de estacionamiento

Entre otras cosas, las tarifas de los estacionamientos y las multas se verán afectadas.

RICHMOND, Virginia - A partir del próximo lunes 7 de julio, la Empresa de Estacionamiento de la Ciudad comenzará a aplicar las tarifas de estacionamiento del año fiscal 2026, de conformidad con el presupuesto anual de la Ciudad que aprobó el Concejo Municipal en mayo. Los cambios en las tarifas incluyen, entre otros:

• Un aumento de 50 centavos en la tarifa del parquímetro, subiéndolo de $2.00 a $2.50 por hora. El propósito de los estacionamientos con parquímetro en la ciudad es crear espacios de alta rotación que permitan más opciones de estacionamiento de corto plazo en áreas de alta demanda.
• Un aumento en la multa por exceder el límite de tiempo, de $25 a $30.
• Un aumento de $40 a $50 en la multa por estacionarse en la acera, a menos de 15 pies (5 metros) de un hidrante de bomberos, o por bloquear una entrada pública o privada de automóviles o en cualquier otro lugar que resulte en una violación de la sección 27-197 del Código Municipal.
• Un aumento de $5 en las tarifas mensuales de estacionamiento en los garajes de propiedad municipal.

Richmond, VA-Today, the City of Richmond's Department of Planning and Development Review (PDR) began administering a new Site Plan ordinance (ORD. 2024-314), which replaces the current Plan of Development process. The new ordinance aims to reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies, improve transparency, and shorten timelines for those looking to build in the City of Richmond.

"Efforts to streamline development review began in early 2022, when the City's Planning Commission adopted a resolution calling for a new process," shared Kevin J. Vonck, Director of Planning and Development Review. "Over the subsequent three years, we mapped our existing processes, hosted dozens of discussions with stakeholders, researched comparative localities, and identified industry best practices to develop a new process that will best serve our development community."

This new process, visualized in the below flowchart, will standardize and streamline the City's review of proposed development projects, meeting following conditions (excepting one and two-family homes):

• Disturbing more than 4,000 sq. ft. of land; or 2,500 sq. ft. of land within a designated Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act Area;

• Making major changes to the public right-of-way or public utilities, including curb cuts;

• Increasing parking more than 10%;

• Installing public drive-ups, drive-throughs, fuel pumps, or charging stations; or

• Increasing the usable space of any building or structure by 2,500 sq. ft.

Those interested in learning more or submitting a project under the new Site Plan ordinance can learn more here.

Richmond, VA-Earlier today, the Office of the City Auditor (OCA) released findings from an internal audit of the City's fuel program. The program, managed by the Fleet Management Division in the Department of General Services, is responsible for fueling the City's fleet of vehicles and is a critical part of City operations.

The audit outlines several key areas of concern including insufficient tracking of fuel usage, insufficient program controls controlling card access, use, and PIN-management, and a lack of standardized processes and training.

"I'm thankful for the city auditor for this comprehensive audit shining a light on challenges with this program," said Mayor Danny Avula. "Our residents deserve transparency, efficiency, and accountability, and my job now is to own it and do the work with my team to put strong policies and practices in place to fix it. I'm committed to addressing the recommendations and strengthening our fuel management program so that this doesn't happen in the future."

The audit included nine recommendations for process improvement, all of which have been concurred by City leadership. These recommendations include, among others:

• The implementation of an updated fuel policy

• An evaluation of current tools to assess suitability

• Implementation of a data-driven oversight process for fuel management

• Development of a formal fuel training program

• Redesign of the PIN management process to improve accountability

"We have taken several steps already to address the concerns raised in today's report," said Director of General Services Gail Johnson. "My team is focused on tightening our oversight protocols, updating our policies, and rolling out improved training programs to ensure we are the best stewards we can be of the new fuel program. We welcome City Auditor Riad Ali's guidance as we work to build a fuel program that better serves our City."

The City will continue to provide regular updates on progress as reforms are implemented in the coming months. The full report can be found on the City Auditor's website, here.