Over the past two months, at least 19 employees across police and sheriff’s departments in five states have faced severe disciplinary action—including arrests, terminations, and administrative leave—following revelations of their misuse of Flock Safety’s extensive network of license plate reader cameras. These officers were found to be tracking vehicle locations for unauthorized, personal, or potentially illegal purposes, often bypassing the oversight of their own supervisors.
The pattern of abuse was brought to light through an extensive analysis of more than 75 million search records spanning three-and-a-half years and covering over 6,300 agencies. This investigation identified 240 users whose search habits were highly irregular, often involving thousands of queries for single license plates. Many of these searches were justified with nonsensical or vague entries such as “SUS,” “TRAFFIC,” “INQUIRY,” “PLATE,” “TAG,” “POLICE,” or “BOB,” frequently occurring during late-night hours.
Specific cases highlight the severity of the issue. In Dallas, Georgia, a 911 director was arrested after investigators discovered she had searched for vehicles belonging to her estranged husband and his new partner more than 2,500 times. Similarly, in Sarasota, Florida, an officer was fired and arrested for tracking an ex-girlfriend’s car at least 335 times over a two-month period. In Texas, the Lufkin Police Department suspended its use of Flock technology entirely after an officer was arrested for repeatedly tracking seven license plates, with one plate searched more than 3,400 times. That officer now faces at least 100 felony charges.
Despite the gravity of these findings, many agencies admitted they were unaware of their officers’ activities until contacted by journalists. When reporters reached out to the departments employing 67 of the most prolific users identified in the data, the resulting inquiries triggered a wave of internal reviews and disciplinary actions. For the remaining cases, agencies either claimed the searches were legitimate or stated they lacked sufficient information to take action.
The ability to uncover this surveillance was largely dependent on access to monthly usage audits that were available to Flock customers until December 2025. However, in response to growing public scrutiny, the company updated its software to redact officer initials, license plate numbers, and other key identifiers, making it significantly harder for the public to monitor for potential misuse. Flock’s chief communications officer, Joshua Thomas, previously stated that it is not the company’s responsibility to police the police.
Flock representatives have defended the redactions, noting that they were implemented to prevent a “pattern of people using the audit logs to stalk or harass” others. In January, the company introduced an automated tool designed to detect abnormal search patterns and temporarily restrict access for suspicious users. Critics, however, argue that this internal auditing is insufficient, as the tool only tracks activity dating back to January 2026 and lacks the transparency required for public oversight.
Legal experts and privacy advocates have labeled these redactions “catastrophic” for accountability. They argue that by obscuring data, Flock is making it impossible for agencies to effectively monitor their own staff. This sentiment is shared by individuals like Billy Taylor and Leandra Higgenbottom, who were targeted by Heidi Taylor, a 911 director who used the system to track their movements. The couple expressed deep concern over the power such surveillance technology grants to individuals, describing it as a fundamental invasion of privacy.
The investigation also uncovered cases like that of Sierra Carroll, an officer who searched a single license plate over 4,000 times while at the Perry Police Department in Georgia. Although she later moved to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office, she was suspended without pay in August 2026 following the inquiry. As these cases continue to unfold, the debate over the balance between public safety and the potential for systemic abuse of surveillance tools remains a pressing issue for communities nationwide. The report also notes that he is charged with at least 100 felonies. The report also notes that activists and others concerned that anyone with access to the company’s private camera networks can follow virtually any driver’s movements with a query as effortless as a Google search, some of that work instead has fallen on journalists. The report also notes that yet in direct response to increasing public scrutiny over abuse of its technology, Flock in December 2025 changed its systems to make officers’ misuse exponentially more difficult for the public to unearth. The report also notes that they found several registered to the searching officers’ ex-partners, co-workers, family members and other people they knew personally. The report also notes that altogether, analysis surfaced 240 Flock users whose frequent and persistent searches stood out from more casual users. The report also notes that providing only an emailed statement, flock declined to answer detailed questions from. The report also notes that “Any officer abuse of our system is completely unacceptable, and the people that abuse our system should absolutely be held accountable,” said the statement from Paris Lewbell, Flock’s public relations manager. The report also notes that “We are committed to setting a baseline for where safeguards and transparency for our industry should be, and welcome further conversations and regulations from local communities about the rules of the road that they want to set for public safety technology.”.
