Wednesday, Sept. 30, the James City County Police Department announced in a statement that former police officer Androu A. Eskandar had been charged with misuse of its Flock camera database.
Flock cameras are AI-powered automated license plate readers that capture information about vehicles’ make, model and location.
Eskandar’s charges, brought on by the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations, totaled to five felonies and eight misdemeanors. According to the James City County police statement, Eskandar used ALPR data for unauthorized purposes.
“Eskandar, 30, is alleged to have used his position as a police officer to improperly access law enforcement information systems for non‑law‑enforcement purposes related to an internal matter involving coworkers,” the statement said.
An unnamed coworker reported Eskandar’s alleged actions in March. Eskandar resigned Friday, April 17, after three years with the department.
“Maintaining the trust of our community requires uncompromising accountability,” James City County Police Chief Mark Jamison said in a written statement. “When an officer misuses law enforcement systems, it is a serious breach of duty and the values of this Department.”
John McGlennon, the chair of the James City County Board of Supervisors and Class of 1935 Professor of Government, stood by the benefits of ALPRs while acknowledging community concerns.
“Like others, James City County understands that finding the balance [is] between valuable function and violations of privacy,” he wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “Whether it is Artificial Intelligence, data centers, and other new technology, we need to be aware of the concerns of our residents and proactive in explaining the actions taken by the county.”
McGlennon noted that Flock cameras have proved helpful for James City County Police.
“In our case, James City County police have been able to resolve over 500 crimes since 2021 when Flock cameras were authorized,” he said.
McGlennon said James City County police are no longer using Flock cameras due to issues unrelated to the dismissal.
Based on information from WMPD’s Flock transparency portal, at the time of the incident, James City County police had access to the data collected by Flock cameras operated by both the Williamsburg Police Department and William and Mary Police Department. WMPD no longer automatically shares Flock data with any other police departments. WPD Flock data is shared with all Virginia law enforcement agencies as part of a statewide network.
WPD owns 32 cameras, and WMPD owns 10.
WPD Chief Sean Dunn said the department did not know whether data from its Flock cameras had been illegally accessed in relation to this case.
“The Williamsburg Police Department has not been notified that its data was accessed in this case,” Dunn wrote in an email to The Flat Hat. “However, the matter is ongoing, and details shared with outside agencies such as WPD are limited. We are in communication with James City County and the Virginia State Police to ensure we are fully informed about any use of our data, as appropriate.”
WMPD Chief Don Butler also said the College’s department didn’t know of any data being accessed in relation to Eskandar’s alleged ALPR abuse.
Butler said Virginia State Police could provide information regarding specific data accessed. State police did not respond to a request for comment.
Dunn said WPD had not changed its ALPR data-sharing policy in response to alleged abuse from Eskandar. He said it had implemented annual retraining to ensure all Flock camera users legitimately utilized WPD’s ALPR system.
“We are continuously assessing and finding best practices to balance the effectiveness of our tools with the privacy concerns of our community,” Dunn said.
At a moderated conversation on public safety Wednesday, April 29, Butler said WMPD had narrowed the list of law enforcement agencies that had access to its Flock data from over 100 to just 16. He indicated the College restricted who it shared its data with in response to student and community concerns about ALPR technology.
“We have professional and personal relationships with these agencies, knowing that they are following the law if they’re accessing our data,” he said at the time.
The James City County Police Department was included on this restricted list.
Friday, Aug. 28, Associate Vice President for Public Safety Cliff Everton ’96 announced WMPD would no longer automatically share Flock data with any police departments and that all requests for data access would need to be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Butler said the changes to WMPD’s data-sharing policy were not in response to Eskandar’s alleged misuse of Flock systems.
“We were neither involved in the investigation nor notified about it. As such, it did not affect our decision-making,” Everton wrote in an email. “The changes we made earlier this year were based on a number of factors as part of our continuous review of processes and protocols related to the technology we use.”
It remains unclear whether the former James City County officer chose to utilize any of the College’s Flock data during his alleged misuse.
Charlie Goodman ’27 is an advocate against AI-powered surveillance technologies in Williamsburg. He said he was not surprised to hear about the James City County violations.
“This was bound to happen,” Goodman said. “There have been documented instances of abuse for the past two years.”
Goodman noted Eskandar’s alleged misuse related to coworkers and that ALPR abuse may be harder to discover when it involves private citizens. He said current audit systems do not provide sufficient security.
“There could be other instances of stalking that they’re not picking up on,” Goodman added. “That’s a lot of data, and you’re pushing the entire onus of data security onto these departments that just don’t have the manpower to review the data that thoroughly.”
Dunn said the response to Eskandar’s alleged ALPR misuse in James City County should reassure the public that police departments are dedicated to transparency and accountability.
“In this instance, the outcome reinforces with our staff that abuse of these systems has significant consequences,” Dunn said. “The community should take comfort in knowing that we have robust audit tools that allow us to identify misuse and abuse, and will take action when abuse occurs.”
Goodman said commitments to transparency are untenable with such a large-scale surveillance system. He criticized how Virginia law prevents the public from accessing Flock usage audit logs through Freedom of Information Act requests.
“In every instance of misuse or abuse, the police departments come out and say afterwards that they’re dedicated to transparency, and yet this trail of [audit logs] is not accessible by FOIA request,” he said. “There’s really no way for the public to keep the police accountable except [to] just trust the police are keeping themselves accountable.”
Goodman described what he views as the only solution to police misuse of Flock.
“Cancel the contracts,” Goodman said. “Time has shown that this technology is kind of built to be abused. Hopefully this wakes police departments up to that.”
