Indianapolis charges five officers for stalking women via Flock cameras
Marion County prosecutors filed fraud, misconduct and stalking charges after a Washington Post investigation triggered an IMPD audit of license-plate-reader access.
What to know
- Five Indianapolis officers were charged with fraud and misconduct, one also with stalking, after an internal audit found they misused Flock license-plate readers to track women.
- The audit was triggered by earlier Washington Post reporting; the paper's nationwide count of police employees accused of ALPR abuse now exceeds 100.
- A same-day Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on ALPR oversight went ahead without testimony from Flock Safety or other vendor CEOs, according to Sen. Josh Hawley.
- IMPD says it is in talks with Indiana legislators on new regulations governing police use of the cameras ahead of the next legislative session.
The dispute Some commenters treat this as an accountability win for oversight, while others argue no policy fix short of removing Flock cameras can prevent this kind of abuse. · positions read across 87 posts and comments
The officers' predatory, inept behavior is shocking and mockable, but not surprising given who has access to the tool.
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“I should not be surprised that men who pick up women via Flock camera have absolutely NO game, but jfc that line is so cringe”
casamuels.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
The real failure is systemic: Flock and law enforcement deployed the surveillance tool with no guardrails, auditing, or accountability.
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“what boggles is that this is a known issue with database access... the fact Flock was deployed with no guardrails & no auditing & no policies & that reporters had to dig through the data is appalling.”
cynar.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
Flock cameras should simply be banned or removed, since misuse is inevitable and not worth the safety trade-off.
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“No more use of Flock cameras. All need to come down. We cannot continue to live in a dystopian surveillance world where the data is misused. We iced without them before.”
debm55.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
These five were likely just the ones caught; many more officers are probably abusing the system undetected.
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“Wonder who those cops pissed off to get caught while the others I am sure are also abusing the system were ignored”
dcpswyrm1.bsky.social · Bluesky ↗
“These individuals’ actions went far beyond a clerical error or a violation of department policy. These actions crossed into criminal conduct and shook the foundation of trust that our agency is built upon.”
Tanya Terry, IMPD Chief · Washington Examiner ↗ · Sep 22
Tanya Terry IMPD ChiefJonathan Schultz Charged Indianapolis police officerMichael Rogers Charged Indianapolis police officerCassandra Crawley Charged Indianapolis police officerMatthew Binford Charged Indianapolis police officerAbigail Cramer Former Indianapolis police officerDrew Harwell Washington Post reporter
Josh Hawley U.S. Senator (R-MO)Flock Safety License-plate reader vendor
How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlespostscomments
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3
Post's tally of accused officers nationwide tops 100
Following the Indianapolis charges, the Washington Post's running count of police officers and employees accused of abusing license-plate readers reached at least 100.
“Our count of police officers & employees accused of abusing license-plate readers is now at 100 (and counting)…”
— Drew Harwell -
first by Washington Examiner, 9h ago
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D
Five Indianapolis officers were just charged following The Post’s reporting on Flock misuse. Our count of police officers & employees accused of abusing license-plate readers is now at 100 (and counting) Free to read:
2 more of the top 3 · 61 posts in this stretch
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J
Holy shit. Spying on your ex-wife is already a massive loser thing to do. Spying on your current wife's *ex-husband* puts you in the running for king loser, biggest loser currently alive.
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I had a cop from New England leave a comment on my YouTube video the other day saying that people need to stop resisting Flock because we have nothing to worry about if we are not criminals. He said that no one cared for 9yrs, so why now... as if they told us all what they were doing.
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WaPo reporter details stalking-by-Flock cases
Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell described how officers used Flock to spy on ex-wives, a wife's ex-partner, and women met while on duty, including one who used a search to approach women at a gym, a Walmart and a Smoothie King.
“Five cops in Indianapolis were just criminally charged with abusing Flock to spy on their ex-wives, their wives' ex-partners and women they met on duty.”
— Drew Harwell -
Five cops in Indianapolis were just criminally charged with abusing Flock to spy on their ex-wives, their wives' ex-partners and women they met on duty. Audit was triggered by us at the @washingtonpost.com, the prosecutor said. From last month:
2 more of the top 3 · 26 posts in this stretch
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One of the cops, an 18-year veteran, ran Flock searches on women he met out in public, then showed up whereever they were to try to do meet-cutes: their gym, a Walmart, a Smoothie King. Said to one woman that "he spilt yogurt on his pants and told her, 'You know what that looks like.'"
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I should not be surprised that men who pick up women via Flock camera have absolutely NO game, but jfc that line is so cringe
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Senate subcommittee holds hearing as Flock CEOs skip it
A Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing on ALPR oversight the same day; Sen. Josh Hawley said the CEOs of Flock Safety and its industry counterparts declined to participate.
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background
Marion County prosecutor charges the five officers — Michael Rogers, Jonathan Schultz, Cassandra Crawley, Matthew Binford and Abigail Cramer were each charged with fraud and misconduct; Schultz was additionally charged with stalking. Cramer had already resigned.
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background
IMPD audit finds five officers misused Flock readers — IMPD Chief Tanya Terry said an internal audit of the department's automated license-plate readers found five officers misused the technology; the department revoked their access and suspended and recommended termination for four after one resigned.
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background
Washington Post exposes nationwide Flock misuse by police — A Washington Post investigation into police abuse of Flock Safety license-plate readers, referenced as published "last month," prompted the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department to audit its own ALPR access.
What people are saying 18 voices from 1 site · best of 87 · verbatim
- Yesterday
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Used exactly as designed by its target audience
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zero fuckin surprise here, but thanks to y'all for doing the reporting to get these creeps prosecuted. unfortunately, we'll never catch 'em all -- the abuse isn't worth any trade off for "safety" -- not at all
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This is cops....just imagine how the corporations are abusing it. And, they aint about to tell on themselves
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As a man, it's a little depressing to be reminded on the reg that men, in aggregate, are fucking terrible. Just so shitty. Also ACAB. Those two things are multiplicative, by the way, not additive.
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I would be scared of the second cop also
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I worked in a transit EOC with police dispatch and if you weren't trained on police dispatch, you could not access driver information, very simple. Why aren't the same restrictions applied to flock data, where only certain trained and management level can evaluate it?
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There's a spotlight on Flock, as there should be. But there are more companies than just them, Axon, Motorola, Rekor, etc. They should all be under scrutiny, every last one
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Oh come on now—if we can't trust police to use mass surveillance ethically, what are we supposed to do, start restricting access? (re-reads article) ...Right. So, restricting access it is.
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What woman wouldn't be dazzled by that pickup line?
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No surprise these tools would have to abuse Flock to meet women.
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what boggles is that this is a known issue with database access. every tech company has uncovered stalkers, every law enforcement agency from local up to the CIA. the fact Flock was deployed with no guardrails & no auditing & no policies & that reporters had to dig through the data is appalling.
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like most surveillance & swat-military tech for law enforcement, the vendors put on flashy conferences with success testimonials, immersive videos of raids, tutorials on all the features & work-arounds & absolutely no cautionary content. while these cops behaved badly they were beyond enabled.
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Wonder who those cops pissed off to get caught while the others I am sure are also abusing the system were ignored
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Its not the most important thing going on here, but every now and then I find myself amazed all over again at just how stupid some of these people are
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I wish I had game like that yogurt playah
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I know a woman who was dating a cop and she was visited by another cop warning her against dating him. The warning turned out to be 100% correct.
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Accountability for abuse of privilege is very inspiring.
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Maybe giving random cops control over the panopticon is a bad idea.