# Report: Growing Police Misuse of Flock's License-Plate Reader Cameras
# Rafael Romo — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXq7R1xlbFU

All right, welcome back. This might
creep you out. Thousands of automated
license plate readers are set up around
the nation to capture license plate
numbers and data. According to a
non-profit public interest law firm,
police misuse of these readers is
growing. Multiple law enforcement
officers are being accused of using them
to run unauthorized personal searches.
With us now, CNN's Raphael Romo, this
could be pretty unsettling to a lot of
people.
That's right. And you know, the the
question at first was is this random
people that they're watching or is it
people they know? And the answer seems
to be it's romantic interest, people
they know. Not that that's going to make
you feel any better, right? But there
has been a series of cases nationwide
involving the alleged misuse by law
enforcement officers of automated
license plate readers, also known as
ALPRs, that were originally designed to
locate vehicles and drivers potentially
involved in a crime. Here in Georgia,
Fred, employees of multiple law
enforcement agencies have been accused
of misusing Flock Safety and other ALPR
systems. The Georgia Bureau of
Investigation confirmed a police
dispatcher supervisor in Conyers was
arrested Wednesday after it says a GBI
investigation revealed she had accessed
the system more than, listen to this, 30
times between April and July
for non-law enforcement purposes.
Earlier this month, the GBI also said it
arrested five former Albany Police
Department officers as part of another
investigation into the misuse of their
access to the Flock Safety system.
Officials say the Albany Police
Department requested the GBI to
investigate the officers following an
internal audit of the Flock license
plate reader camera system. Earlier this
month, a former Milwaukee police officer
was sentenced to 12 months of probation
and a $500 fine after pleading guilty to
attempted misconduct in public office as
part of a deal. Detectives investigating
officer Josue Ayala found he secretly
used Flock to learn the location of his
romantic partner 124
times, and that partner's ex 55 times,
according to a February criminal
complaint.
With that position of trust,
Mr. Ayala was given tools to investigate
crime.
And one of those tools Mr. Ayala used
for his own personal reasons.
Every time there's a misuse of Flock by
a police officer, Mr. Ayala's picture is
on the news as a result of this.
As you heard, I dedicated 11 years of my
life to law enforcement targeting
violent offenders, making a difference
in the community, and I don't offer that
as an excuse, but I just wanted to don't
want that incident to reflect the person
who I truly am and have been.
The Institute for Justice says its
ongoing review of media reports and
public records, quote, has identified at
least 28 cases nationwide of officers
allegedly abusing ALPR data to stalk
romantic interests, with the bulk of
those incidents happening since 2024.
Nearly all of these officers were
criminally charged and lost their jobs
either by resigning or getting fired.
Most of these systems are made by Flock
Safety, the largest ALPR company based
here in Atlanta, which says its network
includes more than 120,000
cameras across 49 states. Flock CEO and
co-founder Garrett Langley told CNN in
an interview the company last month
launched an audit assistance tool that
alerts an auditor to abnormal uses of
its system. The idea here is making it
easier for supervisors to uh learn if
somebody's misusing the system. But
again, so many cases here.
Oh my gosh, so many. And that's that's
really embarrassing for all involved.
Right.
Okay. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.