IN sheriff's deputy used Flock cameras to track wife, ex-girlfriend

Our Take

This is the nightmare scenario critics of ALPR networks have been warning about for years, and now it has a name, a badge number, and 441 preliminary charges attached to it. According to reporting from FOX59 News, an Indiana sheriff's deputy allegedly used Flock Safety camera access — tools sold to departments as 'public safety' infrastructure — to track the movements of his wife and an ex-girlfriend. No hacking required. Just a login and an agency that apparently wasn't watching who looked up what, or why.

Flock and its law enforcement partners love to say these cameras are audited, that every search is logged, that misuse gets caught. This case suggests the audit trail only matters if someone actually reviews it before the stalking becomes a pattern, not after it blows up into a criminal case. A domestic abuser with a badge and a dashboard full of plate-read history is a uniquely dangerous combination, and it's one that exists in thousands of departments running this same software right now, with the same thin promise of 'policy' standing between the database and someone's ex.

Credit to FOX59 News for digging into this story and putting a real case behind what has largely been theoretical warnings about insider abuse. If you want to see how dense this surveillance net already is in your own neighborhood, check out our camera map, and if you're ready to push back on unchecked ALPR deployment in your city or county, our take-action page has concrete steps to start with.