# Axon Fleet 3 ALPR Trial The operational record of the Fayetteville Police Department's automatic-license-plate-reader trial — the Axon Fleet 3 in-car ALPR function, activated agency-wide from **2026-02-12 to 2026-04-23**. The trial read tens of thousands of plates, used managed hotlists, and produced hits officers acted on. It is the activity FPD's first FOIA response did not mention; see [[_overview]]. For how the trial was authorized, see [[Axon Field Trial Agreement and City Authorization]]. ## What's inside Drawn from the email keyword-search production (`raw/fayetteville-pd/PD-2026-1484/`): - `CRU - ALPR.pdf` p. 1 — Lt. Moad, "PLEASE READ - Fleet 3/LPR" (2026-02-12), the go-live notice to all sworn officers - `2.pdf` / `17.pdf` — Lt. Moad, "FLEEt 3 ALPR Tutorial" to PD Sworn (2026-02-13) - `19.pdf` — Capt. French sends Moad the "Fleet 3 ALPR.pptx" slide deck (2026-02-12) - `15.pdf` — Lt. Moad, "ALPR Hotlists," directing hotlist creation (2026-02-18) - `13.pdf` — Sgt. Lindley, "ALPR Info," hotlist-management detail (2026-02-18) - `14.pdf` / `18.pdf` — automated "ALPR Hotlist ALERT" emails from `[email protected]` - `12.pdf` — "Confirmed ALPR Hit," an NCIC-confirmed hit forwarded internally (2026-02-26) - `16.pdf` — "ALPR pics," 5 pages of phone photographs (image content not reproduced) - `8.pdf` / `9.pdf` / `11.pdf` — Capt. French, trial-extension notices (2026-03-23 / 2026-03-28) - `1.pdf` — Capt. French, "AXON ALPR Trial" trial-end notice to PD Sworn (2026-04-23) - `CRU - ALPR.pdf` p. 21 — Sgt. Lindley's trial feedback to Capt. French (2026-04-23) - `CID Admin - ALPR.pdf` — Capt. French's mailbox; first-day read counts and the first stolen-vehicle hit ## The trial, in sequence **Go-live, 2026-02-12 — unannounced.** Lt. Moad notified all sworn officers the morning the system turned on (`CRU - ALPR.pdf`, p. 1): > We had a meeting this morning with AXON in reference to a License Plate Reader (LPR) trial period. The LPR is built into your FLEET 3 cameras in your vehicles. We did not expect the LPR system to be turned on today by AXON, but it was. Obviously, there has been no training. The same message set the use rule: "DO NOT take any action on hits. If you receive a hit, use that like you would any other intelligence, but do not take action based on the hit alone. Verify any hits through ACIC before taking any action." It also noted that, apart from ACIC, "hits are generated through a hotlist." **Scale.** Capt. French, reporting to Axon the same day (`CID Admin - ALPR.pdf`): "Just five hours after going live, we have read over 7,500 plates ... that definitely exceeded my expectations. We've had a few false NCIC hits, but the AXON platform made it very simple and quick for officers to discern that the hits were due to low confidence in the plate's state of origin." The next day Lt. Moad told all sworn officers (`2.pdf`): "For reference, we have had over 33,000 reads in approximately 32 hours." **Training.** A "Fleet 3 ALPR" slide deck circulated from Capt. French to Lt. Moad on 2026-02-12 (`19.pdf`) and to all sworn officers on 2026-02-13 (`2.pdf`); Moad and Sgt. Lindley delivered shift briefings. Moad's notice carried a caution: "it is still important to realize the system is not infallible. Please ensure you verify any hits through normal channels, such as ACIC, prior to taking any action." **Hotlists.** On 2026-02-18 Lt. Moad pushed hotlist creation (`15.pdf`): "We are almost a week in to the ALPR test ... To get the most out of our trial we need hotlists for our agency ... It's imperative we maintain the lists." Sgt. Lindley, the hotlist administrator, described the working setup that night (`13.pdf`): officers "only have the Fleet Search tab and the Fusus Search tab" and cannot see hotlists; a detective ("Barnett") asked for a vehicle tied to a burglary to be added, and Lindley "made a hotlist labeled CID." She flagged operational friction — notifications could be set per-hotlist but not per-vehicle, and hit-alert emails could not be opened on an FPD work phone. **Hit alerts and a confirmed hit.** Automated "ALPR Hotlist ALERT" emails from `[email protected]` reached FPD during the trial (`14.pdf`, `18.pdf`): "A license plate of interest has been detected by your agency's ALPR system and may require your attention." On 2026-02-26 a "Confirmed ALPR Hit" was forwarded internally (`12.pdf`), an officer reporting it "Confirmed via NCIC" (the referenced "ALPR Hit.docx" attachment was not separately produced). **Extension.** The trial was extended; Capt. French announced on 2026-03-28 (`8.pdf`): "our AXON ALPR trial has been extended until April 22nd. Please pass this along to those under your command so we can continue to evaluate the product." French later noted to Axon (`CID Admin - ALPR.pdf`): "We did receive our first stolen vehicle hit last week, so that was certainly good to see." **End, 2026-04-23.** Capt. French to all sworn officers (`1.pdf`): > Our AXON ALPR trial period ends today. For the last 60 days, the LPR function has been activated in all patrol vehicles equipped with an AXON Fleet 3 camera. If you have any feedback, positive or negative, please email Lieutenant Moad or me about your experience with the product. Sgt. Lindley's feedback the same day (`CRU - ALPR.pdf`, p. 21): "I thought the program was great. The platform was user-friendly. We used the search feature several times while doing some follow-ups and looking for subjects ... with no additional equipment to manage or install." ## Key takeaways - **The trial was agency-wide, not a limited pilot.** The LPR function ran in *every* patrol vehicle with an Axon Fleet 3 camera, and notice and training went to the "PD Sworn" all-officers distribution list. By volume it was a full operational deployment for ~10 weeks. - **It generated real surveillance activity.** Tens of thousands of plate reads (7,500 in the first five hours; 33,000+ in 32 hours), managed hotlists including a detective-driven "CID" list, automated hit alerts, and at least one NCIC-confirmed hit and one stolen-vehicle hit officers treated as actionable intelligence. - **FPD imposed an ACIC-verification rule.** Officers were repeatedly instructed not to act on an ALPR hit alone but to verify through ACIC first — an internal control, though no written ALPR policy or directive appears in the production. - **"For the last 60 days"** is FPD's own characterization; the go-live (2026-02-12) to end (2026-04-23) span is closer to ten weeks. Recorded as stated. - **The trial's data did not stay with FPD.** Per the FOIA interim message, when the trial ended FPD "lost access to all administration, data, hotlists, and logs related to ALPR" — so the read counts and hits above survive only because officers quoted them in email. See [[Vendor-Controlled ALPR Trial Data]]. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Christopher Moad]] — Lieutenant, CID; ran the trial day-to-day; go-live notice, tutorial, hotlist direction - [[Jason French]] — Captain, CID; trial announcements, extension, trial-end notice; reported metrics to Axon - [[Tiffney Lindley]] — Sergeant, CRU; hotlist administrator; delivered shift briefings; trial feedback - [[Fayetteville Police Department]] · [[Axon Enterprise, Inc.]] ## Concepts invoked - [[Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR)]] - [[Vendor-Controlled ALPR Trial Data]] - [[Hot List]] ## Events documented - [[2026-02 Axon ALPR Trial Goes Live at Fayetteville PD]] - [[2026-04 Axon ALPR Trial Ends at Fayetteville PD]] ## Cross-references - [[Axon Field Trial Agreement and City Authorization]] — how the trial was authorized (Mayor's signature, no cost, no Council). - [[Axon RTCC and Surveillance Ecosystem Pitch]] — what Axon was selling alongside the trial. - [[Vendor-Controlled ALPR Trial Data]] — why the trial's audit data is not retrievable. ## Open questions / follow-ups 1. **No usage/audit export.** The FOIA Item 3 ask (audit logs, search records) is not satisfied by this production; the trial platform's data is held by Axon and FPD's access ended with the trial. 2. **No ALPR policy or directive.** Lt. Moad twice noted a directive "may" be issued to govern camera positioning and use; none appears in the production. 3. **The "ALPR pics" (`16.pdf`).** Five pages of phone photographs forwarded by Lt. Moad during the trial; their subject is not described in text. The wiki notes the file and does not reproduce its image content.