Accused of using data to tip-off a drug dealer

Officer Seth Elliott, who has only been with CMPD for two years, is charged with using data from license plate readers to track someone. A misdemeanor.

WSOC quotes court documents saying that Elliott tipped off a drug dealer that one of his customers was an undercover cop. And he got the undercover officer’s car information from by accessing traffic cam data on a police computer.

But, WBT has found that police misuse of data from traffic cameras is a growing problem. In recent days, at least 30 cops have been arrested for using the camera data to track spouses or lovers. One California officer used it to track two mistresses and his wife.

The cameras are made by a company called Flock. They capture the license plate number of every car that passes by, along with recording the color, make and model of each vehicle.  

That information is then stored in a data base, that officers from any department can access.  By using a tag number, officers can easily see the movement of any vehicle — where it’s been and what route it took.

That level of surveillance is something that ACLU lawyer Chad Marlow calls dangerous. “We have a company working with governments to record the comings and goings of every single person in the country, as if you and I were potential criminals.”

But a spokesman for Flock says the system keeps track of who uses the data, and he says all of the cops who abused the system were caught by safeguards built into the system. He said that if an officer doesn’t have a good reason to access the data, it raises red flags.

The Flock cameras are becoming a hot topic.  In Florida, the cameras have been vandalized. And at least 60 municipalities have stopped using them.

But law enforcement is high on the cameras.  They’re used all around the Charlotte area. 

Last week, York county sheriff Tony Breeden defended the license plate readers. He said, “Flock cameras have helped us solove over 250 cases over the last year.  Some of those homicides and robberies.” And he said that no one in his office  is monitoring the cameras just to spy on regular citizens.

But, the sheriff is being sued by a man who says the cameras misidentified him as a car thief.  It alerted officers of a stolen car, and the man says he was pulled over and held at gunpoint.  But the suit says, the car was not stolen.

And one lawmaker says he will introduce a bill in Congress to take money from police departments that use the cameras.

So, the debate is not likely to quiet down anytime soon. Cops love the Flock cameras for their potential to catch criminals. While privacy advocates worry about abuse.

And it is clear from recent arrests, that some police are misusing the cameras.