APPOMATTOX — Sheriff Robby Richardson used his department update to the Board of Supervisors on May 18 to warn residents about a local phone scam, report sharp results from a U.S. 460 speed camera, and ask for patience on response times as his deputies handle a growing caseload.

Richardson said deputies have responded to 4,425 calls for service so far in 2026 and walked the board through an active-investigation workload that he said had grown along with the county’s population. He said the office is usually running only two deputies per shift while working to return to three.

“If they’re taking a few minutes to get to you, it’s not because they’re just lollygagging around,” Richardson said. “They’re actually doing stuff, and it’s a lot of things going on in the county right now. The population is growing, which means the crime rate is growing, unfortunately” (27:13).

Scam alert

Richardson warned of a scam in which callers impersonate sheriff’s deputies, using the names of real deputies and spoofing the office’s main number so it appears on caller ID. He said the office’s main line is inbound-only and cannot make outgoing calls.

“If that number shows up on your phone, it’s automatically going to be a scam,” he said. “When we call you, it shows up as a different number” (28:17). He declined to publicize the office’s actual outbound number, to keep scammers from copying it next.

Speed camera

Richardson reported that a speed camera on U.S. 460 has dramatically cut violations. When the initial study was done, he said, the location logged about 3,000 violations a day; the camera is now recording roughly 30 to 50 a day, with about 22 citations issued daily.

“It’s doing its job. It’s working,” Richardson said, adding that he hoped to see violations fall further still. “If we can get it down to five or six or zero, then we’ve absolutely done our job” (31:10).

Richardson also responded to a supervisor’s question about a Lynchburg voyeurism case in which hidden cameras were placed in public restrooms, describing how such “spy” cameras can be concealed in everyday fixtures and offering general guidance to wary parents. He encouraged residents to bring concerns to the sheriff’s office.