A San Francisco police officer used automated license plate reader cameras to search for his wife’s stolen car, in violation of department rules, an internal affairs investigation found.
According to a report presented (opens in new tab) to the Police Commission this month, the unnamed officer obtained Flock Safety camera images of the car and posted them on Instagram, claiming it had been stolen from a relative.
The San Francisco Police Department discovered the abuse when an unnamed law enforcement agency reported that its license plate reader images had been shared on social media. After conducting an audit, SFPD internal affairs discovered that there had been Flock searches for the car’s license plate.
SFPD was alerted to the issue by another agency. | Source: Courtesy SFPD
The officer is alleged to have committed a number of policy violations, the report noted; the most serious involves conflict of interest in an investigation.
The report did not say when or where the incident occurred or whether the officer faced disciplinary action.
Representatives of the SFPD and Flock did not respond to a request for comment.
Installed in San Francisco in March 2024, Flock cameras record license plates and provide descriptions of passing vehicles, which are saved for state authorities to sift through. The SFPD has said the database helps in the fight against crime, (opens in new tab) but it’s unclear how many cases have been aided by the camera system. Critics of the technology, who have likened it to Orwellian mass surveillance, have long claimed it can track people’s movements and be abused by local and federal law enforcement.
“This technology is incredibly sensitive and incredibly ripe for abuse. No matter how many legal or bureaucratic guardrails you put on those searches, officers are going to find a way to use it for their own personal reasons,” said Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
This week, a Milwaukee cop was charged (opens in new tab) with attempted misconduct for allegedly using Flock to surveil the movements of a woman he was dating.
Last year, The Standard reported that the SFPD’s Flock data had been accessed by out-of-state agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in violation of the department’s rules and California law. In December, a San Francisco man filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying the city’s use of Flock cameras constitutes an illegal search and violates his 4th Amendment rights to privacy and association.