Another police officer was fired due to misusing Flock Safety’s cameras and database.<\/p>\n
According to San Jose Police Department Chief Paul Joseph, an officer was fired after giving license plate reader data to a domestic violence suspect. The suspect was able to use the provided information to track their victim. In an interview<\/a> with reporter Robert Honda, Joseph said that after he learned of the offense, he placed the cop on administrative leave, and referred an investigation to the district attorney’s office.<\/p>\n The investigation concluded in the San Jose officer’s firing.<\/p>\n The chief said that following the incident, he installed a new policy prohibiting officers from accessing Flock data on personal devices.<\/p>\n Cops Misusing Flock\u00a0<\/p>\n Over the past few years, with the growing popularity of Flock and other automatic license plate readers (ALPRs), hundreds of cops have been caught misusing them.<\/p>\n As of Sep. 14, the Institute for Justice’s Database of ALPR Abuse<\/a> reveals that there have been 228 incidents of deputies misusing the systems nationwide.<\/p>\n 33, around 14%, of the cases were related to errors in the ALPRs themselves. The other 195 cases included stalking, non-law enforcement use, or other misuses.<\/p>\n With 79 recorded incidents, Georgia has the highest number of violations.<\/p>\n Amid the growing number of allegations, many have criticized Flock for a lack of safeguards on its platform. So last month, the ALPR provider added new features aimed at avoiding misuse and improving privacy.<\/p>\n New Safeguards<\/p>\n