Documented Incident
Washington Post investigation identifies 50+ officers accused of misusing ALPR systems to track people
First reported: August 3, 2026 · 2 sources
A Washington Post review of police and court records identified at least 50 law enforcement officers who were charged with or accused of using automated license plate reader systems for unauthorized purposes, with Flock Safety's system involved in 46 of the cases and Axon and Motorola products in the rest. In 26 cases, investigators or prosecutors said officers surveilled wives, girlfriends, former partners, their exes' new partners, or women they wanted to meet. One case involved Braselton, Georgia police chief Michael Steffman, who allegedly searched the plates of Marci Bakely and her teenage daughter roughly 600 times according to audit logs compiled by the site "Have I Been Flocked." Steffman was arrested in November on stalking, harassment, and license plate reader misuse charges; officials said he was found dead in his home in April from a suicide before trial.
The findings bear on whether existing audit logs and internal policies are sufficient to detect misuse of warrantless plate-search databases, and on what oversight other communities may weigh before adopting or expanding ALPR programs.
Key facts
- The Washington Post reviewed police and court records and identified at least 50 officers charged with or accused of unauthorized ALPR use; Flock's system was involved in 46 cases.
- Flock told the Post it operates more than 120,000 cameras in over 6,000 communities and records about 20 billion plate scans per month.
- In California, former deputy Alexander Vanny was convicted on 10 charges including stalking and unauthorized access of electronic data, and was sentenced in February to six years in prison.
- Flock introduced an optional "audit assistance" feature in April that flags suspicious searches; roughly one in four agencies have enabled it, per the report.
- Flock CEO Garrett Langley said misuse is inevitable and accountability is the answer; Andreessen Horowitz partner David Ulevitch called the cases "an infinitesimally small number" and "truly a nonissue."
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- 50+ Police Officers Accused of Using Flock License Plate Cameras to Stalk People (breitbart.com, August 3, 2026)
- Brentwood officer accused of using license plate reader to stalk ex-wife (First Alert 4, August 3, 2026)
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About this record
BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.
Updated August 17, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.