Restraining orders granted against ex-officer accused of using Flock cameras illegally

Our Take

WISN 12's reporting on Josue Ayala is exactly the kind of story we warn about: the danger isn't just a hacker breaking into Flock's servers from the outside, it's the badge-holder who already has the keys. Ayala pleaded guilty to attempted misconduct in public office after allegedly using Flock camera access for reasons that had nothing to do with legitimate policing, and now he's facing civil restraining orders on top of his criminal plea. That's a resignation, a guilty plea, and a judge deciding someone needs to be legally kept away from a person — a cascade of consequences that only happened because this case got caught.

Flock and police departments love to tout audit logs and "access controls" as the safeguard against abuse. But an audit log only matters if someone is actually watching it, and most departments aren't running independent audits — they're trusting officers to self-police a tool that tracks the daily movements of anyone who drives past one of these cameras. When the person misusing the system is the one with legitimate login credentials, the technical safeguards are only as good as the human oversight layered on top, and that oversight is frequently an afterthought bolted on after the cameras are already installed.

This is why we keep pushing people to look at where these cameras actually are in their own communities and to push elected officials for real, public audit requirements instead of vague promises. Credit to WISN 12 for digging into a case that departments would probably rather not have exposed. If you want to do something concrete about it locally, our take action page has steps for demanding accountability before the next Ayala shows up in your town.