Indiana officer arrested for misusing Flock cameras to track wife hundreds of times
Georgetown police officer Justin Craig faces misconduct and fraud charges after searching his wife's plate 80+ times. A Washington Post reporter's tip triggered the internal review.
Indiana cop charged after searching wife's license plate over 80 times via surveillance system
An Indiana police officer has been arrested on charges of official misconduct and two counts of fraud after allegedly misusing automated license plate reader cameras to track his wife and another individual, theguardian.com reports.
Justin Craig, of the Georgetown police department, is accused of searching his wife's license plate more than 80 times and that of a "previous acquaintance" of hers nearly 250 times through the Flock camera system, according to news outlet WLKY. The searches ran from January through July.
The investigation was triggered after a Washington Post reporter contacted the Georgetown police chief with a tip. An internal review subsequently found that none of Craig's searches were connected to any active police investigations, and that he had intentionally mislabeled them to make them appear legitimate. Labels applied to the searches included traffic infractions, narcotics, assault/battery, theft, and stolen vehicles.
Flock cameras are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) that photograph vehicle plates, allowing police and security companies to log car movements in a given area. Approximately 120,000 Flock cameras operate across the US, conducting roughly two billion scans per month. The company provides cameras and software to more than 4,800 law enforcement agencies and nearly 1,000 businesses.
Craig's attorney, Matthew Lemme, released a statement following the arrest: "Flock sells this same technology to cities, homeowners associations, and shopping malls. When public criticism of it came, the response was to put it on the shoulders of individual police officers. The conduct alleged does not violate any law or department policy." Lemme added that Craig intends to file a motion to dismiss the charges.
The case is one of several involving alleged misuse of Flock technology by officers across multiple US states. Reported abuses include officers using the cameras to stalk former romantic partners and to track individuals seeking abortions. The system is also regularly accessed by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose enforcement methods under the second Trump administration have attracted widespread criticism.
Flock has faced growing bipartisan opposition over alleged privacy violations and data-sharing practices. In August, the company's CEO announced steps to limit police abuses, including mandating that law enforcement agencies activate features designed to audit how individual officers use the tracking capabilities.
Source: Google News GY — Georgetown