AGENCY SPOTLIGHT: Chesterfield Co. Police Leverage Community Polling to Target Enforcement Efforts

Since the perception of speeding is significantly more prevalent than actual speeding, handling such complaints from residents can be tricky. More than 90 percent of the Chesterfield County Police Department’s speeding complaints are ultimately unfounded by speed study data. It’s tempting to focus on roads where speed or crash data demonstrate a clear problem, but relying solely on numbers can leave residents feeling their police department is not taking their concerns and experiences seriously. 

To deploy our limited resources most effectively, CCPD’s Traffic Safety Section set out to find a way to marry community concerns and perceptions with traffic data. We decided to ask our community to choose which main-line roads we focus on during traffic safety blitzes. 

We started by identifying the roads that residents could choose from: Midlothian Turnpike, Hull Street Road, Iron Bridge Road/W. Hundred Road, Chippenham Parkway, Courthouse Road/Huguenot Road, and Route 1. Each of these roads is known for having a high traffic volume, a higher-than-average crash rate, and a perceived speeding/reckless driving issue. We then turned to our department’s Media and Messaging team to use social media to get our community’s opinion. 

For our first community poll, conducted in December 2024, we used the poll option on Nextdoor, which allows only Chesterfield County residents to interact with our content. We received 293 votes and Hull Street Road won by a landslide with 47 percent of the vote. We wanted more community involvement in our second poll, so we worked with Chesterfield County’s web development team to create a survey on the county website rather than within a social media platform. We posted this poll on Nextdoor and Facebook in March 2025 and we received 928 votes – more than three times what we received in the first poll! In the March poll, residents chose Chippenham Parkway for extra enforcement. 

In both December and March, we posted the results of the poll online and the date for the traffic enforcement operation on the chosen road. Our decision to post the date of the operation in advance generated healthy debate on our social media. Many people argued it was counterproductive to warn potential violators, saying they would take a different route or slow down for one day. We shared that our goal is safer roadways, not writing tickets. We want to deter unsafe behaviors whenever possible, and we believe publicizing the operation does so – especially when we do unannounced traffic enforcement every other day of the year. 

The roads were analyzed for high-violation areas and this information was communicated to officers, but they were able to patrol the entire length of the chosen roads. Enforcement focused on speeding, reckless driving, seat belt use, impaired driving, red light running, and hands-free device violations; all of these are common contributing factors to fatal crashes. 

After the enforcement, we posted the results of the operation, which garnered largely positive feedback from our community. During our December blitz, officers stopped 99 vehicles and issued 112 summonses and 45 written warnings for a variety of traffic offenses. The highest sped that day was 81 mph in a 45-mph zone. In March, officers stopped 236 vehicles and issued 313 summonses and 38 written warnings. Two drivers hit the highest speed of the day, which was 104 mph in a 60-mph zone.

Overall, social media posts related to these polls and traffic enforcement operations are among our most engaged-with content. Our efforts also received local media attention. In March, a reporter and photographer with a local television station rode along with one of our traffic officers on Chippenham Parkway. Media also followed up when we posted the operation results, sharing the results with the wider community.

These “people’s choice” blitzes occur once per quarter, typically around major holidays often associated with serious and/or fatal crashes. 

“The Chesterfield County Police Department is committed to traffic safety, and we will continue to share that message with our community,” said Col. Frank Carpenter, chief of police. “Through education and enforcement, we work daily to encourage drivers to follow the rules of the road and arrive at their destinations safely.”