Documented Incident
Brentwood, Mo. officer accused of using Flock ALPR to track ex-wife; no charges filed
First reported: August 4, 2026 · 1 source
A woman in the St. Louis area told First Alert 4 that her ex-husband, a Brentwood police officer, admitted running her license plate through the Flock camera system to find her location during their divorce. The St. Louis County Police Department investigated and concluded no crime had occurred under Missouri law, and the case was closed after review by the prosecuting attorney's office. Brentwood Police Chief Joseph Speiss wrote in a letter responding to a third-party complaint from the woman's boyfriend that an internal investigation found sustained policy violations, and that St. Louis County Police and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office had been brought in. The city said it cannot comment further because the matter is a personnel issue.
Missouri and Illinois have no statute specifically criminalizing use of ALPR systems to track or stalk an individual, leaving each department to write its own rules and set its own discipline. The outcome here — sustained policy violations but no criminal charges, handled confidentially as a personnel matter — illustrates how little external accountability may attach to alleged misuse in states without governing law.
Key facts
- The woman said her ex-husband acknowledged running her plate through Flock to learn where she was; she described it as a control issue.
- St. Louis County Police determined no criminal conduct occurred; Brentwood's internal investigation found sustained policy violations, per the chief's letter.
- Flock CEO Garrett Langley said some officers have misused the system and pointed to a new audit feature that helps identify abuse.
- Officers in Kansas, Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina have recently been convicted of improperly accessing ALPR systems for personal use.
- Saint Louis University law professor Anders Walker said most courts have found no privacy right in a license plate, but that misuse warrants discipline or possibly prosecution.
- Any discipline imposed on the Brentwood officer has not been disclosed.
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- Brentwood officer accused of using license plate reader to stalk ex - wife (kfvs12.com, August 4, 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 10, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.