Kenosha deputy charged with misusing Flock database

Our Take

This is the nightmare scenario critics of ALPR networks have been warning about for years, and now it has a name and a badge number. According to reporting from WISN 12 News, a Kenosha County sheriff's deputy allegedly ran his then-girlfriend's plate through the Flock Safety database and used another law enforcement tool to track her movements. He's now facing two felony counts of misconduct in public office. No audit, policy, or vendor promise stopped this from allegedly happening — it took a victim coming forward and a prosecutor willing to act.

Flock and police departments love to tell the public that these systems are "audited" and that misuse gets caught. But audits are backward-looking. They tell you a crime happened after the fact, assuming anyone bothers to check the logs at all. The access controls that are supposed to keep cops from turning a public safety tool into a personal surveillance weapon rely entirely on the integrity of the person holding the login — and that's not a safeguard, that's a hope. When the tool is this powerful and this easy to query, abuse isn't a hypothetical, it's a matter of time.

Every camera added to this network is another potential vector for exactly this kind of abuse, whether by a stalking ex-partner with a badge or anyone else who gets access. If you want to know how many of these cameras are already watching your community, check our map, and if you think your town doesn't need another one, see what you can do about it on our take action page. Credit to WISN 12 News for reporting a story that departments elsewhere would probably rather you never hear about.