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NOPE
Low reported severity Criminal Charges

James City County, Virginia: a former police officer, whose charges were announced on 30 September 2026, is charged with computer invasion of privacy and improper use of the department's Flock license-plate-reader system, which the county says he used in an internal matter involving coworkers

The James City County Police Department said on 30 September 2026 that Virginia State Police had charged a former officer with five felony and three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader system by law enforcement (WTKR). The department says he used its Flock camera system for purposes related to an internal matter involving coworkers; Williamsburg Watch reports the county's announcement that he used the cameras to track coworkers. The department learned of the misuse in March 2026, when another employee raised concerns during an internal investigation, and the officer resigned on 17 April. He turned himself in and was released on unsecured bond. The coworkers are not identified and their number is not reported.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
30 September 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use · An institution’s AI use
Setting
Work · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras operated by the James City County Police Department, whose records the former officer is charged with misusing

What Happened

WTKR News 3 (30 September 2026) reports the James City County Police Department's announcement that a former officer, employed from April 2023 to 17 April 2026, has been charged with five felony counts of computer invasion of privacy, three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader (ALPR) system by law enforcement. According to the department, he used the Flock camera system for purposes related to "an internal matter involving coworkers". Williamsburg Watch reports the county's announcement as saying he used the county's Flock cameras to track coworkers.

The department says it became aware of the misuse in March 2026 when another employee reported concerns during an internal investigation, and it immediately asked Virginia State Police to conduct an independent criminal investigation. The officer resigned on 17 April. He turned himself in to state police on Monday and was released on unsecured bond. Police Chief Mark Jamison called misuse of law enforcement systems a serious breach of duty. The department says it has used ALPR technology for 15 years, has since updated policies, reinforced access controls, retrained staff and strengthened supervisory review, and has added random audits to the monthly audits required by Virginia law.

The coworkers are not identified, and neither source says how many were tracked or what the searches revealed.

Reported harm

Coworkers of a James City County police officer were tracked through the department's Flock license-plate-reader system, according to Williamsburg Watch's report of the county's announcement (the department's wording, carried by WTKR, is 'an internal matter involving coworkers'); the former officer is charged with computer invasion of privacy and improper use of the system.

Outcome

Pending

Charged by Virginia State Police with five felony counts of computer invasion of privacy, three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader system by law enforcement; turned himself in on Monday 28 September 2026 and released on unsecured bond. He had resigned on 17 April 2026. The department has updated policies, retrained staff and added random audits.

What remains unknown

  • Who was tracked and how many coworkers; whether they were told or experienced further consequences.
  • When the searches took place (before the department learned of them in March 2026).
  • What the charged searches revealed and whether location data was shared with anyone.
  • Court dates and the outcome of the charges.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The James City County Police Department, as carried by WTKR and Williamsburg Watch, says the former officer misused the department's Flock automated license plate reader (ALPR) system; Williamsburg Watch reports the county's announcement that he used the county's Flock cameras to track coworkers. The AI component is identified by product category only: the department's automated license plate reader (ALPR) system, which reads passing plates by machine. The searches and their purpose are recorded as the officer's own acts. Neither inspected source uses the word AI, describes how the system reads plates, or says what records the charged searches returned.

4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported A former James City County police officer is charged with using the department's Flock license-plate-reader cameras in connection with an internal matter involving coworkers; the county announcement, as reported by Williamsburg Watch, says he used them to track coworkers.

Causal attribution. Both outlets carry the James City County Police Department announcement (one chain). The charges are allegations; no court has ruled.

  • wtkr.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was charged with misusing the Flock camera system for an issue related to his coworkers, according to the James City County Police Department.'; 'allegedly used Flock camera systems for purposes related to "an internal matter involving coworkers," according to JCCPD.'
  • williamsburgwatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Virginia State Police have charged a former James City County police officer with using the county’s Flock cameras to track coworkers, the county announced this afternoon.'
Reported He is charged with five felony counts of computer invasion of privacy, three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader system by law enforcement; he turned himself in to Virginia State Police and was released on unsecured bond.

Causal attribution. Police announcement carried by both outlets (one chain).

  • wtkr.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was charged with five felony counts of computer invasion of privacy, three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader (ALPR) system by law enforcement.'; 'turned himself in to VSP on Monday and was released on unsecured bond.'
  • williamsburgwatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was charged with five felony counts of computer invasion of privacy, three misdemeanor counts of computer invasion of privacy, and five misdemeanor counts of improper use of the automated license plate reader by law enforcement.'
Reported The department says it learned of the misuse in March 2026 when another employee reported concerns during an internal investigation, asked Virginia State Police to investigate, and the officer resigned on 17 April 2026.

Causal attribution. Police account (one chain).

  • wtkr.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'misuse in March 2026 when another worker reported concerns during an internal investigation.'; 'resigned from JCCPD on April 17.'
  • williamsburgwatch.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'when an employee reported concerns about his actions during an internal investigation.'
Reported The department says it has since updated policies, reinforced access controls, retrained staff on lawful use of ALPR systems and added random audits to the monthly audits required by state law.

Causal attribution. Department statement as carried by WTKR.

  • wtkr.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The department has since updated policies, reinforced access controls, retrained staff on appropriate and lawful use of ALPR systems and strengthened supervisory review.'; 'The department has also added random audits of the system use in addition to the monthly audits required by state law'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-01 from the live page (WTKR News 3, 30 September 2026); carries the James City County Police Department release and the police chief's statement. Applies to s1.

Read on 2026-10-01 from the live Substack page (Williamsburg Watch, 30 September 2026); reports the county announcement and a statement by the police chief; also reports an unverified tip from an unnamed source that is not used here. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

The officer worked for the James City County Police Department, Virginia, and was charged by Virginia State Police (WTKR, Williamsburg Watch). The coworkers are described only as department coworkers.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-01: Published as a contextual case (made_claim_about) consistent with earlier officer-misuse rows for Flock license-plate readers: the police department announced that a former officer is charged with computer invasion of privacy and improper use of the license-plate-reader system in a matter involving coworkers. The charges are allegations. The accused and the coworkers are not named here.

People described

Coworkers of the former officer at the James City County Police Department (not identified; number not reported)

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

The department refers to 'an internal matter involving coworkers' and Williamsburg Watch to tracking coworkers; no number of coworkers is reported. Unquantified, numeric placeholders 0.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#flock-safety#alpr#police-misuse#virginia#james-city-county#criminal-charges

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). James City County, Virginia: a former police officer, whose charges were announced on 30 September 2026, is charged with computer invasion of privacy and improper use of the department's Flock license-plate-reader system, which the county says he used in an internal matter involving coworkers. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-james-city-county-virginia-former-officer-charged-flock-alpr-misuse-coworkers

BibTeX

@misc{2026_james_city_county_virginia_former_officer_charged_flock_alpr_misuse_coworkers,
  title = {James City County, Virginia: a former police officer, whose charges were announced on 30 September 2026, is charged with computer invasion of privacy and improper use of the department's Flock license-plate-reader system, which the county says he used in an internal matter involving coworkers},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-james-city-county-virginia-former-officer-charged-flock-alpr-misuse-coworkers}
}

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Indianapolis: five current and former police officers were charged on 23 September 2026 with fraud and official misconduct, one also with stalking, after audits found thousands of Flock automated license-plate-reader searches with no law-enforcement purpose, including one officer's tracking of 11 people (seven women and four men) and another's 1,616 searches that included his ex-wife's plate (WISH-TV, WNDU, WFYI/WVXU, Gizmodo)

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