# Police officer terminated after allegedly using city’s Flock cameras for personal gain | WSB-TV
# WSB-TV — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3m2I6Nieg

New at four, Sandy Springs has
terminated an officer after he allegedly
used the city's cameras and surveillance
system for his own personal gain.
Channel 2's Michael Don has been digging
into the report and it shows the former
officer may have committed corporate
espionage.
Yeah, this investigation centers around
Flock cameras. They give officers a
real-time look at what's going on while
also being license plate readers. But
the investigation found that this
officer may have been using this
technology to benefit himself and his
other job. Flock cameras always
watching, tracking, a tool built on
trust.
It's an invaluable tool for law
enforcement to actually solve cases,
homicide cases, sexual assault cases.
But a recent investigation shows the
trust may have been betrayed. It alleges
that over the course of months, Sandy
Springs Police Reserve Sergeant Francis
Espazito uses Sandy Springs flock login
to run license plates, gather data, all
for another job.
The data is the gold mine for literally
any startup, any company that is trying
to grow.
The investigation concluded that
Espazito may have violated multiple
Georgia laws, including corporate
espionage. I
I think that this officer probably
understood the rules uh and understood
what he was doing was wrong. Now, in an
email, Mr. Espazito's other employer,
Signal 8, said in part, quote, "At no
point did Mr. Espazito share, transmit,
or transfer data from Flock Safety or
the City of Sandy Springs to Signal 8
systems." However, the whistleblower who
started this investigation was a former
Signal 8 executive who told
investigators that the data from Flock
was used for beta testing and validation
of the product. It's it's clearly a
violation of policy and and perhaps
state law.
And the concern is that what else the
technology could be used for and who is
watching the watchers
without the guardrails? I mean, the
whole system is going to fall apart.
Now, after this termination, Sandy
Springs then sent this case to post,
which then will look at potential
disciplinary action against Mr. Epazto.
We're in Sandy Springs. Michael Dnner,
Channel 2 Action News.