Misuse of Flock Safety System by a Mooresville Police Officer

License plate reader (Mother Flocker/UnSplash).

On Wednesday, Mooresville Police Department (MPD) charged Elizabeth Snowman, MPD officer, for misuse of license plate scanners to track her boyfriend's ex-wife. 

After MPD conducted an audit of its license plate reader system, also known as Flock Safety, they found that Snowman accessed the camera 31 times for personal use according to a post on MPD Facebook. 

According to the media release, they found Snowman to be untruthful about the reasons for using the Flock Safety cameras. On Aug. 5, Officer Elizabeth Snowman was charged with accessing computers and was taken to Iredell County detention center where she received a $5,000 secured bond.  

From WBTV reporting, Chief Ron Campurcani said that they are looking into at least 10 other cases involving officers misuse of Flock Cameras, including three that are problematic. 

Media release statement from the Mooresville Police Department (Mooresville Police Department).

What are Flock Safety cameras?

According to the Flock Safety website, Flock is a connected public safety platform that allows authorized users to find information relevant to an incident, including the use of license plate readers (LPR). 

What does Flock LPR do and does not do?

According to the Flock Safety website, the LPR does record vehicle sightings at specific places and times, captures license plates and vehicle characteristics, help authorized users find relevant vehicle evidence, and provide more insight and leads for ongoing investigations. 

Flock Safety website also list misconceptions that are associated with the system including: Flock does not identity people by their faces or who is inside of a vehicle, Flock does not continuously track people or vehicles, Flock does not replace human investigators and Flock customers cannot access a live video feed from an LPR camera.  

Who owns the data?

According to the FAQ on the Flock Safety website, customers own their data. Flock Safety provides the infrastructure but the customers control access, sharing and retention according to applicable laws and policies. Flock Safety does not sell customer data or share information without authorization. Every search within the system requires a documented reason and is logged and reviewed every 30 days.