Topic
Abuse & misuse
Documented cases of officers or agencies searching the system improperly.
48 articles · page 2 of 3 · RSS
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Oconomowoc Moves to Kill $18,000 Flock Camera Deal Amid Statewide Backlash
hoodline.com
Oconomowoc's Common Council is set to vote on cutting $18,000 from its budget, which would end the city's six Flock Safety license plate cameras after three years. The article compiles related Wisconsin developments: two former Milwaukee officers charged with using Flock to track ex-partners, a wrongful gunpoint stop caused by a stale alert, and contract terminations in Menasha, Stoughton, Sheboygan, and Fond du Lac County.
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Flock worker calls police on ANF chief investigator filming public camera installation
walb.com
Atlanta News First reported that a Flock Safety installer called 911 after investigative reporter Brendan Keefe filmed a camera being upgraded on a public street in Milton, Georgia, leading to a 17-minute traffic stop by three police units. A separate June call brought police to YouTube creators filming outside a Flock distribution center. Flock said staff may contact police over safety concerns and barred media from its customer conference.
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Flock Safety Hit With Nationwide Class-Action Lawsuit Over Police Stalking
motorbiscuit.com
A federal class-action suit, Schulte v. Flock Group Inc., filed in Georgia, alleges Flock failed to safeguard its 120,000-camera license plate reader network against misuse by police. The complaint cites an investigation finding at least 50 officers accused of ALPR misuse, 46 involving Flock, and fired officers retaining access because multi-factor authentication was optional. Flock says it has now made MFA mandatory.
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Editorial: More cops are accused of misusing Flock cameras. This is becoming too much like Big Brother
timesleader.com
A Chicago Tribune editorial cites reviews in West Chicago and Itasca after officers allegedly used Flock for unauthorized purposes, and an officer accused of hundreds of searches of former partners. It notes Washington Post reporting that at least 50 officers have been charged or accused of misusing ALPRs, describes Flock's shortened seven-day default retention, and lists Illinois municipalities ending or suspending contracts.
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Flock cameras draw opposition from across the political spectrum
mprnews.org
Opposition to Flock license plate readers is emerging as a bipartisan political issue ahead of the midterms. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called for legislation banning them, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis moved to revoke permits on state highways, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott froze state spending. Senate Republicans are investigating police misuse, and polling shows more Americans disapprove of the cameras than approve.
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A new bill reflects the bipartisan backlash against Flock-enabled mass surveillance
reason.com
Reps. Thomas Massie and Eric Burlison introduced the Flock-Off Act, which would bar federal funding of license plate readers except at the border or for toll enforcement, with cosponsors from both parties. A YouGov survey found 46 percent of respondents opposed police ALPR use, up from 33 percent a year earlier. The piece also notes Sen. Josh Hawley's investigation of Flock and the Institute for Justice count of 157 local governments canceling contracts.
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Ex-Indiana deputy charged with felony for allegedly using Flock cameras to stalk girlfriend
foxnews.com
Former Jackson County, Indiana sheriff's deputy Skylar Thompson was charged with official misconduct and fraud after an internal audit found he ran more than 2,000 Flock license plate searches on his girlfriend's vehicle between December 2025 and August, logging them as city planning or traffic analysis work he was never assigned. He resigned and turned himself in. Flock defended its technology as a public safety tool.
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Former Jackson County deputy accused of making more than 2,000 unauthorized Flock searches
wdrbwave.com
A former Jackson County, Indiana sheriff's deputy, Skylar Thompson, was charged with official misconduct and fraud after a routine audit of the agency's Flock camera system found he searched the same license plate 2,055 times between December 2025 and August 2026. The affidavit says he listed "city planning/traffic analysis" as his reason despite never holding those duties. Indiana State Police investigated.
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Florida bans Flock cameras and other license plate readers from state highways
nbcnews.com
Florida's Department of Transportation revoked all prior approvals for license plate readers in state highway rights-of-way, citing a rapid increase in deployments plus reports of misuse and data privacy concerns. The order does not cover private property or local rights-of-way, where officials say 98% of cameras sit, though the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office ended its program anyway. Flock said a ban was the wrong response and cited recent cases solved.
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Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley launches investigation into Flock Safety data usage
kcur.org
Sen. Josh Hawley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, sent a letter to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley demanding documents on data safeguards by Sept. 8. Hawley cited a St. Charles County officer who ran Flock searches for personal reasons, plus alleged abuse in Wisconsin, Florida and California. He noted Flock reports more than 120,000 cameras and 20 billion monthly vehicle scans.
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Flock contract cancellations grow among cities, other jurisdictions
thehill.com
Tempe and Cave Creek, Arizona, terminated their Flock Safety license plate reader contracts, joining more than 90 jurisdictions tracked by DeFlock that have cancelled or rejected the technology. Officials cited high-profile misuse cases, including a Washington Post finding that over 50 officers were accused of improper ALPR searches. Senator Josh Hawley opened an investigation, and Flock announced new audit and lockout features.
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New records detail Arizona Flock camera misuse...
youtube.com
Apache Junction Police internal affairs records detail how former Officer Joshua McDaniel admitted using Flock camera data to search for his wife’s license plate during marital troubles.
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Stow police cut ties with Flock Safety after officer allegedly used cameras to track someone he knows
boston.com
An internal affairs investigation found Stow, Massachusetts officer Jason Rogers ran vehicle searches through Flock Safety multiple times in 2024 and 2025 with no legitimate law enforcement purpose and queried the state criminal records database at least five times improperly. Rogers was placed on unpaid leave and faces criminal charges and termination proceedings. The chief ended the department's Flock contract, with the last camera removed in early August.
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Flock Safety overhauls rules following ANF investigations
atlantanewsfirst.com
Flock Safety announced it is cutting its default license plate data retention recommendation from 30 days to seven, adding an "evidence mode" cold storage option for active investigations. The company will require its machine learning audit tool, proactive account lockouts for abnormal search behavior, mandatory case codes, and multi-factor authentication. The changes follow reporting on more than a dozen officers disciplined or arrested for personal misuse, including stalking partners.
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Despite 'New' Updates, Flock's Creepy Cameras Remain Major Civil Liberties Threat
aclu.org
The ACLU assesses Flock Safety's announced operational changes, including a reduction in default data retention from 30 days to seven days with an "Evidence Mode" exception, local control over which offenses other agencies may search for, mandatory search reasons, and wider rollout of an audit tool. It argues most measures repeat earlier interventions that officers circumvented and that the audit tool has never been independently evaluated.
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6 more Ga. police department employees under investigation over alleged Flock camera misuse
wrdw.com
Savannah Police placed four officers and two civilian employees on administrative leave after an internal audit found searches unrelated to law enforcement, including queries about acquaintances and family members. One officer allegedly gave an outside agency access to the department's Flock system. All six cases went to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
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Monroe County cancels contract with Flock Safety
ipm.org
Monroe County commissioners voted 2-0 to end their Flock Safety contract more than a year early, paying roughly $3,000 to remove six sheriff's office cameras. Commissioner Julie Thomas acknowledged the cameras' usefulness but said "the way the data has been abused...is terrible." The sheriff raised no objection. Bloomington had declined to renew its own contract in April 2026.
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Inside the growing police use and misuse of Flock's license-plate reader cameras
cnn.com
CNN documented a pattern of officers across multiple states searching Flock's network for personal reasons. Milwaukee internal affairs found an officer had used the system to track a romantic partner's location 124 times and that partner's ex 55 times. Flock's chief executive pointed to a new audit-assistance tool that flags abnormal use.
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Flock Safety Employees Watched Kids' Gymnastics Room to Pitch Surveillance Tech (Updated)
yahoo.com
Public records obtained by a Dunwoody, Georgia resident show Flock Safety staff, including a vice president, viewed cameras labeled "Gymnastics" and "Main Pool Right" at a Jewish community center during sales demonstrations for prospective police clients. Flock's CEO apologized, and the city council renewed the contract with added data-ownership guardrails. The piece also notes Georgia officer misuse arrests, camera vandalism, and LAPD letting its Flock contract expire.
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Flock cameras track more than your license plate, and they're spreading fast
engadget.com
An overview of Flock Safety's camera network describes natural-language vehicle and person searches, over 100,000 ALPRs nationwide, and data sharing that gave ICE access via local police, including more than 1,400 Denver searches logged on ICE's behalf. It documents exposed cameras found by researcher Benn Jordan, dozens of officer stalking cases, misread plates leading to stops, and Denver's contract cancellation followed by an Axon award.