Documented Incident
Highland Heights, Ohio dispatcher resigns after 20,000-plus unauthorized Flock searches found
Event: November 24, 2025 · First reported: August 20, 2026 · 1 source
A part-time Highland Heights police dispatcher resigned after the department found she had run searches in its Flock Safety license plate reader system for reasons unrelated to police work. According to data from the site Have I Been Flocked, she made more than 20,000 searches between 2024 and 2025, including five plates queried more than 1,000 times each between Oct. 24, 2024 and Nov. 22, 2025 — far above the next-highest employee's 930 searches. Police Chief Dennis Matejcic said the department learned of the pattern Monday when Washington Post reporters contacted him, and opened an internal affairs investigation; he said the dispatcher would have been fired had she not resigned. The city's law director and prosecutor concluded she did not commit a crime, Matejcic said, and cleveland.com is not naming her because she faces no charges.
The misuse was surfaced by outside journalists and a public-records aggregation site rather than by internal controls, raising questions about how agencies detect improper ALPR queries. Highland Heights' response — a Flock-specific policy with monthly audits — offers a template other departments may face pressure to adopt.
Key facts
- Have I Been Flocked data shows the dispatcher ran more than 20,000 searches; five plates were each queried over 1,000 times between Oct. 24, 2024 and Nov. 22, 2025.
- The department says it learned of the searches from Washington Post reporters on Monday and confirmed them in its own Flock system.
- The dispatcher submitted a resignation letter Thursday; Chief Matejcic said she would otherwise have been terminated.
- City legal officials determined no crime was committed, and no charges have been filed.
- Highland Heights is drafting a Flock-specific policy including monthly audits; Flock introduced an audit tool in April and says audits become mandatory Jan. 1.
- Matejcic said the department, like Cleveland and Shaker Heights, has barred the keyword "immigration" in searches.
Sources
This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.
- Highland Heights dispatcher resigns after Flock abuses found: ‘Off the charts’ (Cleveland.com, August 20, 2026)
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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 21, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.