Police Officer Racks Up 100 Felony Counts Allegedly Using Flock Cameras To Spy On Civilians

Who could have ever guessed that police departments were creating entirely new avenues for abuse by giving access to surveillance technologies that would be the envy of the East German Stasi to rank-and-file officers. A Texas police officer was arrested earlier this month and indicted on 100 third-degree felony charges. Each charge is for misuse of official information. He allegedly used Flock's camera network to spy on 11 innocent civilians for over a year. The department involved is now suspending the use of Flock cameras as a result.

Before his arrest, Zachary Klein spent 11 years in the Lufkin Police Department. The East Texas city of around 34,000 residents approved the use of Flock's surveillance systems in 2023. According to the Lufkin Daily News, the department announced last week that it had begun an audit after becoming aware of potential issues with Flock's use. This is the point at which internal affairs officers began investigating Klein and another officer who has been placed on administrative leave. It's alleged that the 32-year-old used Flock's automated license plate readers to locate the vehicles of 11 people in a non-government capacity. Lufkin's police chief Travis Brazil also asked the Texas Rangers to open an investigation, and the state-level agency ultimately arrested Klein.

The residents of Lufkin don't have to worry about another police officer spying on them, at least for a little while. Brazil said, "While the investigations are ongoing, we have suspended the use of Flock cameras within the department." This suspension isn't happening in a vacuum. Counties across Texas are starting to push back hard against Flock after repeated controversies. According to Texas Public Radio, Hood County terminated its agreement with Flock last week. Meanwhile, Houstonians took to a Harris County Commissioners Court meeting to urge officials to do the same.

Flock's reputation might be a sinking ocean liner, but the tech company rolled out a few band-aids to seal the gaping hole in the hull. Flock slashed its data retention period from 30 days to just seven. However, those are just the database's default settings. If a law enforcement agency wants to hold on to photos of your car for over a month, it can do so with ease. Flock also required police departments to use previously optional audit-assistance features. Beyond the dystopian mass-surveillance implications, It's become exceedingly clear that Flock's camera network requires every single person accessing it to be a good actor, fully aware of privacy law. That's just not realistically achievable.