San Jose officer fired for misusing Flock license plate database in domestic abuse case
A San Jose police officer has been fired after using the department's Flock license plate tracking system to reveal a woman's location to a relative accused of abusing her, the latest in a growing pattern of misuse of the surveillance technology.
San Jose police chief Paul Joseph told NBC Bay Area on Friday that an officer was fired for misusing the department's Flock license plate reading system. According to Joseph, the officer accessed data on a woman's vehicle without authorization using his personal phone last year, then passed the information to his cousin — who, according to the San Jose Mercury News, was the man accused of abusing that same woman.
The unauthorized access came to light after the woman told police her alleged abuser had revealed he knew her location. The department immediately placed the officer on administrative leave and opened a criminal investigation.
Joseph said he was furious that an officer would betray public trust in this way and apparently fail to grasp the seriousness of the violation. The case has been referred to the Santa Clara county district attorney's office, though no criminal charges have been filed against the officer so far. San Jose police also referred the officer to the state commission on peace officer standards and training, which has the authority to bar him from future law enforcement work in California. Joseph called on state lawmakers to make it easier to prosecute this kind of violation as a crime.
A wider pattern
License plate reading technology has faced mounting criticism, protests and even vandalism from across the political spectrum as law enforcement agencies have installed tens of thousands of cameras nationwide. Critics cite privacy risks, mass surveillance, false matches and officer misuse. Immigrant rights groups have also raised alarm as police increasingly share this data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which uses it to support the Trump administration's deportation efforts. The Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, has documented dozens of cases of officers using license-plate readers to stalk women.
This month, the California state assembly adjourned without passing a bill that would have added new regulations to license-plate reader systems like Flock — the fifth consecutive year state lawmakers have failed to enact such safeguards, according to CalMatters. Governor Gavin Newsom had previously vetoed a similar bill that would have required deletion of investigation-unrelated data after two months.
