#aaronparnas — Public Fediverse posts

> A Washington Post investigation found that at least 50 law enforcement officers nationwide have been charged with or accused of misusing Flock’s network of over 120,000 AI license-plate cameras, most often to stalk women without their knowledge, including wives, girlfriends, exes, or new partners of exes. The investigation centers on Marci Bakely, a Georgia woman whose ex-boyfriend, police chief Michael Steffman, searched her license plate roughly 600 times over 13 months before being arrested on stalking and harassment charges; he died by suicide in April before facing trial.

Other documented cases include a Kansas police lieutenant fired for tracking his ex-wife and their children, a Florida officer who told his girlfriend “the police are already here” after threatening her with his gun, and a Wisconsin officer who used Flock to check whether his girlfriend had visited an abortion clinic. The Post found that Flock gives police departments wide latitude over oversight settings, with many agencies conducting minimal auditing, and in some cases officers continued using the system even after being flagged for misuse, while punishments varied widely due to a patchwork of state laws and no federal regulation. Flock has said abuse is “inevitable” given its scale but pointed to new voluntary “audit assistance” tools as a fix, while critics like the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation argue basic safeguards, such as requiring a case number for every search, remain optional rather than mandatory.

#aaronparnas #substack #uspol
#uspolitics #flockcameras
#licenseplatesurveillance
#licenseplatereaders #stalking
#policeofficer #policeinvestigation
#marciblakely #georgia #kansas
#florida #Wisconsin #aclu #eff
#electronicfrontierfoundation

https://open.substack.com/pub/aaronparnas/p/major-update-trump-doj-executes-sham