A San Jose police officer accessed the department's license-plate tracking system to monitor a victim of alleged domestic abuse and give information to his relative, police confirmed Friday.
The officer used his personal device to make "unauthorized" Flock Safety camera searches related to a "domestic violence matter involving family members" while he was off-duty, San Jose police officials said. They did not identify the officer.
The officer located the victim's vehicle using the camera system and shared the victim's location with the suspect, police said. The Mercury News reported the suspect was the officer's cousin and the victim was a woman.
The apparent abuse of the system is another example of a concerning trend involving police officers across the U.S. abusing the vast surveillance powers of Flock Safety's ubiquitous cameras.
The San Francisco Police Department - which has about 400 Flock license-plate readers - earlier this year investigated an officer who used the city's Flock database to search their spouse's car.
Similar abuses have been reported across the state: an Orange County officer used Flock to stalk his mistress and romantic rivals, and even continued to use it after being placed on administrative leave, according to media reports. In Riverside County, a sheriff's deputy allegedly used the database to stalk his former fiancée.
A lawsuit filed in February alleges that Flock allowed out-of-state agencies to illegally search SFPD's database over 1.6 million times during a seven-month period. San Francisco police later cut off Flock access to an out-of-state agency after a department audit found nearly 300 improper searches of SFPD data over the course of a year.
On Friday, San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph said he placed his officer on leave and later terminated him after a criminal probe.
Department leaders learned of the case in February 2025, when the victim told police the officer's relative knew her location, according to the Mercury News. The department ran her plate through the system and discovered the officer's unauthorized searches, the outlet reported.
The officer and his relative were not criminally charged.
The department said it has changed its policy to restrict Flock data and all other law enforcement sensitive systems from being accessed on officers' personal devices.
Joseph said all officers were "admonished that improper access of ALPR and other law enforcement systems is grounds for termination," police said. Police also said they are testing new "smart auditing tools that go even further to flag possible access without a lawful purpose."
"When an officer violates the public's trust this severely, my responsibility is clear: that person cannot remain in a position of police authority, and they cannot wear the San Jose badge," SJPD Chief Paul Joseph said in a statement. "This technology is new; the standard is not."
SJPD said it referred the case to the State Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which has the authority to suspend or revoke a police officer's credentials.
The number of alleged improper searches by law enforcement has prompted some cities to sour on Flock Safety, with Mountain View turning off its 30 cameras after discovering federal agents were accessing residents' information.
Cupertino, Saratoga and Los Altos Hills also have voted to stop using Flock as its primary license-plate-reader system, while other Bay Area cities are considering dropping the technology.
There's more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.
This article originally published at San Jose officer used Flock cameras to help relative track domestic violence victim, chief says.