Newly unsealed court documents show five Indianapolis police officers have been charged with misusing the department's Flock automatic license plate readers, including 18-year veteran Jonathan Schultz, accused of using roughly 300 cameras to stalk his ex-wife and another woman. Separately, Franklin County, North Carolina ended its Flock contract and fired a detective for tracking a private citizen, while San Jose officials are pushing for tighter controls after an officer shared Flock data with a relative accused of domestic violence.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-27
Indianapolis police charged five officers Wednesday with fraud and misconduct after an internal audit of the city's 301-camera Flock system uncovered widespread abuse; one officer also faces a stalking charge. One officer had already resigned and the other four were suspended and recommended for termination. County prosecutor Ryan Mears said one officer searched license plates tied to his wife and two acquaintances 3,759 times over ten months.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-24
Flock Safety told Senator Josh Hawley it has replaced an open text field for justifying camera-database searches with a drop-down menu based on FBI crime categories. By year's end, law enforcement will also need to log a case number before searching, though the requirement can be waived in emergencies. The changes come as Hawley investigates the company and after a Senate hearing examined misuse concerns, including a case where a Florida woman spent 13 days jailed based on a camera match.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-24
Action Porty, the community group that recently bought Portobello's old Police Station building, asked local residents for help resetting its clock tower's time. A volunteer climbed a ladder into the attic and up into the tower to inspect the mechanism, finding what appears to be the original 1877 clockwork, later fitted with electric motors and a control box to silence the night chime.
pointinthecloud.com
· 2026-09-23
Montreal city council voted 35-25 to adopt a bylaw banning insults, harassment, threats and aggressive behaviour toward police officers and other municipal employees. First offences carry fines of $300 to $1,000, rising to as much as $2,000 for repeat violations, and city staff would be allowed to refuse service to offenders. Officials have not set a date for implementation, and the bylaw does not define what counts as an insult.
cbc.ca
· 2026-09-23
MIT Technology Review reports that smart glasses are enabling covert recording, non-consensual image sharing and police surveillance in India, with experts warning such incidents will grow as the devices go mainstream. Separately, the outlet cites University of Pennsylvania finance professor Jessica Wachter's analysis showing hyperscalers are on track to spend nearly $1.1 trillion on AI data centers through 2027, requiring extraordinary earnings growth to break even by 2030.
technologyreview.com
· 2026-09-23
Microsoft and partners including Cloudflare, Coinbase, OpenAI, SpyCloud, TRM Labs and Health-ISAC disrupted EvilTokens, a phishing-as-a-service platform that used AI to scan compromised inboxes and craft tailored lures. The operation had compromised over 12,000 inboxes across more than 10,000 organizations worldwide, spanning sectors like healthcare, finance and higher education. The takedown seized 50 sites and disabled 150 domains, and UK police arrested two men, aged 32 and 38, after Microsoft shared intelligence with the Metropolitan Police's cybercrime unit.
yro.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-23
The Texas Commission on Law Enforcement ordered the five-officer Trinidad Police Department to close by September 18 after finding it offered no meaningful public benefit and lacked basic equipment like bulletproof vests and an evidence room. The investigation followed the arrest of resident Jennifer Combs, who was jailed for a Facebook post claiming residents had gotten sick from discolored tap water; charges against her were eventually dropped. Henderson County's sheriff's office will handle policing duties until Trinidad finds a permanent replacement.
dallasnews.com
· 2026-09-22
404 Media is asking residents nationwide to submit public records showing how local police departments use Axon's automatic license plate reader cameras, which many cities are adopting after backlash over Flock's role in ICE lookups and a Texas officer's search related to a self-managed abortion. The outlet has already gathered Axon 'activity reports' from six police agencies detailing which officers searched plate data, their badge numbers, and stated justifications, but wants more submissions to map usage nationwide.
404media.co
· 2026-09-21
An Electronic Frontier Foundation investigation found numerous police officers logging nonsensical or joke reasons—like 'LMAO,' 'LOL,' or keyboard-mashed text—when justifying searches through Flock's nationwide license plate camera network. One Indiana officer wrote 'LMAO' before searching over 19,000 cameras across 1,500-plus cities, while an Oklahoma officer typed gibberish to access more than 83,000 cameras. When EFF followed up with departments about these entries, few offered meaningful accountability.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-18
Evan Meyer, 24, initially faced three felony charges after destroying what he believed was a real Flock surveillance camera in Oviedo, Florida, but which turned out to be a 3D-printed decoy set up by police in a sting operation. An assistant state attorney's filing this week reduced the charges to two second-degree misdemeanors plus a petty theft count, after determining the actual damage totaled $200 or less.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-16
A public records analysis by the Electronic Frontier Foundation found that police officers across the US frequently entered nonsensical or joking justifications—such as 'LMAO,' 'lol,' 'idk,' and random keystrokes—when required to explain searches of Flock's license plate reader database. The pattern spans roughly 2023 through 2026, showing that lack of accountability in these warrantless lookups is widespread rather than isolated.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-15
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