Documented Misuse Cases
This page tracks reported cases of law enforcement officers misusing ALPR camera networks — including Flock Safety systems — for stalking, unauthorized tracking, and other abuses outside their stated purpose. Summarized in our own words with links to the original reporting.
"It's Official: Flock Is For Stalking" — new details from public records
Court records and public-records requests obtained by 404 Media add specifics to an already troubling pattern: an Orange City, Florida officer ran his ex-girlfriend's plate through the Flock system at least 69 times over several months in 2024. He was ultimately sentenced to five years of probation and a $618 fine — a resolution critics say does little to discourage similar misuse elsewhere.
Read at Techdirt →Institute for Justice tracker grows to dozens of named cases
The Institute for Justice, which is separately representing plaintiffs in constitutional challenges against ALPR networks in San Jose and Norfolk, has compiled a growing list of named officers accused of misuse nationwide. Among the more extreme examples: a former deputy allegedly ran the plate of a woman he was having an affair with 1,639 times over several months, and a Milwaukee officer logged 179 searches on a woman he was dating — justifying each one in the system simply as "investigation," despite none existing.
Read at Institute for Justice →Former sheriff's deputy sentenced to 6 years after stalking campaign
A former Riverside County, California sheriff's deputy was convicted on 10 charges, including stalking and unauthorized access to electronic data, after using Flock as part of a months-long harassment campaign against his former fiancée — a campaign that also involved secretly installing a camera in her roommate's bathroom. He was sentenced to six years in prison, among the most severe outcomes documented in any ALPR misuse case so far.
Read at IBTimes UK →CNN examines the scale of data retention and cross-department sharing
A CNN investigation into Flock's growing footprint notes that camera data is shared not just between local departments but in some cases with the Department of Homeland Security, raising the possibility of a de facto nationwide vehicle-tracking network. Privacy researchers quoted in the piece point out that Flock's default 30-day data retention window is enough to reveal detailed patterns of someone's daily life, not just a single trip.
Read at CNN →Washington Post investigation finds ALPR misuse across dozens of departments
A Washington Post investigation identified at least 50 officers nationwide who were charged with, or accused of, improperly accessing Flock's license-plate network for personal reasons rather than legitimate investigations — most commonly to track current or former romantic partners. Reporting on the same findings noted that the Institute for Justice, which maintains its own tracker of these cases, describes its count as likely an undercount, since most incidents only come to light after a victim reports being followed or contacted unexpectedly.
Read at Tech Times →Missouri officer accused of tracking ex-wife — no criminal charges filed
A Brentwood, Missouri police officer was accused of using the department's Flock system to locate his ex-wife during a divorce; the woman said he admitted to running her plate. An internal investigation found the conduct violated department policy but did not rise to a criminal offense under Missouri law — a gap that's become a recurring theme in these cases, since most states don't yet have laws specifically criminalizing this kind of personal database misuse. Flock's own CEO has publicly acknowledged the pattern, pointing to a newer audit feature intended to flag unusual search activity after the fact.
Read at First Alert 4 →Pattern of romantic-stalking cases documented nationwide
Multiple outlets have compiled lists of named cases where officers used ALPR access to track romantic interests — current partners, exes, coworkers, and in some cases even strangers. Documented examples span Illinois, Wisconsin, Idaho, Georgia, Kentucky, and Florida, with outcomes ranging from resignation to felony charges depending on the department and state.
Read at Yahoo News →