Savannah Police Fire 6 Employees for Misusing Flock License Plate Readers
Georgia police officers fired after Flock camera misuse
The Savannah Police Department has terminated four sworn officers and two civilian employees after an internal investigation found they misused the Flock Safety License Plate Reader system. The employees ran unauthorized searches on personal acquaintances and family members, and one officer gave an outside agency access. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is conducting a criminal investigation. The department has implemented weekly audits to prevent future misuse.
All six cases are also under independent criminal investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
- simonw
Abuse by police officers and other individuals with access to these systems is the answer to the stupid but common question "why should I worry about surveillance if I have nothing to hide".
- rmnoflock
There's basically 3 ways to get a council to cancel a contract. 1) Persuade them to do it because it's the right thing for the community. This is best done in private. 2) Convince them that the legal liability out weighs the public benefit. This is best done in public. 3) Run for office.
If you have the energy you can do all 3 in parallel.
Here's my attempt at 2: https://rmnoflock.com/2026/07/29/rolling-meadows-flock-camer...
Does anyone have advice or experience with 2?
- tptacek
Flock cameras appear to be one of the few things that can get police officers fired.
- AngryData
It should result in jail time. If I got access to government surveillance program and started using it for personal reasons, I would likely be charged with terrorism.
- philip1209
I know there are lots of reasonable concerns about unauthorized access to private information.
This is somewhat solved problem in other areas, like banking and government. Not zero, but asymptotically low.
I think we need to criminalize misuse more clearly, preferably on a federal level. We need clear justifications for each use of data. And, we should require periodic audits by an independent third party - perhaps funded in the purchase contracts as a line item and held in reserve.
This doesn’t solve the problem of legal use - which could be contentious now or in the future. But, this technology isn’t going away and good legislation to control it makes sense.
- Zhenya
Sounds like flock should be monitoring law enforcement more than civilians…
- an0malous
We should put up Flock cameras in every police station and make the feeds public. If they’re not doing anything illegal, they should have nothing to hide.
- madhacker
Flock is importing China's ubiquitous surveillance in America until every habitable space is captured