Another Ohio police officer under investigation for alleged misuse of Flock cameras | WHIO TV

Our Take

Credit to WHIO for staying on this story, because a second officer getting flagged for misusing Flock camera access in the same Ohio department isn't a coincidence — it's a pattern. Flock Safety loves to tell cities that its audit logs keep everyone honest, but audit logs only catch misuse after the fact, after someone's ex, neighbor, or rival has already been tracked. The tech is marketed as a tool for solving violent crime, yet the recurring headlines are about cops running plates for personal reasons with little to stop them until a colleague or reporter notices.

This is the core problem with ALPR networks: once the cameras are up, the only real safeguard is trusting the people with login credentials, and that trust keeps failing in city after city. Departments rarely disclose how often this happens until local press forces the issue, which means the public has no real sense of how widespread quiet misuse actually is. Two investigations in one Ohio department should be a wake-up call for any city council currently rubber-stamping a Flock contract on the promise of "strict oversight."

If you want to know whether these cameras are already watching your own commute, check our camera map, and if your town is debating a Flock contract, our take-action page has tools to push back before the cameras — and the inevitable misuse stories — show up in your city.