ST. CLAIR COUNTY, AL – Two employees at two different police departments in St. Clair County, Alabama, were reportedly found to have been violating their respective departments’ policies regarding the usage of Flock cameras, with officials confirming the two employees are no longer at the departments.
The seemingly rapid adoption of Flock camera systems across police departments in the country has been a source of controversy over concerns of potential abuse and, in some cases, actual instances of. Earlier in July, officials from the Moody Police Department and Springville Police Department out of St. Clair County confirmed two employees were no longer with their departments after purported abuses of Flock camera systems.
Springville Police Chief Jason Mize identified the alleged offender in their department as being an officer but did not identify the officer by name. The unnamed officer allegedly used the Flock system to monitor a family member which then resulted in an investigation into the officer’s alleged conduct after officials became aware of the matter. During a July 8th meeting between department brass and the officer, Chief Mize said the officer handed over his resignation.
Chief Reece Smith from the Moody Police Department simply identified the alleged Flock offender in the department as an employee, alleging the individual had violated policies regarding the usage of the license plate reader technology. Three days after an investigation into the allegations was opened, the employee was terminated, according to Chief Smith.
In the Moody Police Department case, Chief Smith emphasized that in the seven years the department has been using said camera technology, the recent incident was the only documented case involving inappropriate use of Flock cameras. “The Flock camera system is a good tool for law enforcement. We just need to make sure we have policy and procedures in place that allows us to terminate employees who abuse the system,” Chief Smith added.
Both cases regarding the alleged abuse of Flock policies have been handed over to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency for further review.
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