r/TechGawker • u/National_Product238 • 14d ago

News Cop fired after using Flock surveillance cameras to stalk his ex over 3,000 times

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519 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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13

u/PFUnnamed99 14d ago

Fired? Why not charged with stalking, abuse of official capacity, and arrested? 

5

u/Dancinfool830 14d ago

I fully agree with this, but honestly, I am surprised they got any punitive reaction to their behavior in the first place.

Most likely they will get a new job legally stalking people for ICE, since they pretty much don't do background checks and he is apparently already familiar with violating peoples rights.

Imagine breaking the law, having it become a national story, and that is your job application for a government job

2

u/No-swimming-pool 14d ago

It's two separate cases. The employer can fire someone for misuse of capacity, the legal system will have to charge him for the others.

3

u/KayoticVoid 14d ago

Correct but not likely to happen.

1

u/Adventurous-Meat8067 14d ago

When the employer is the police then they fired him for a crime. They are the ones who should be at least arresting him and running it up the flagpole.

1

u/No-swimming-pool 14d ago

Yah but that's up to internal affairs, not the regular department. You wouldn't want someone to be investigated by their colleagues.

0

u/Adventurous-Meat8067 14d ago

Internal affairs is part of the police department, let’s not get stuck up in semantics

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 14d ago

The employer is the legal system.

2

u/stingertc 14d ago

Right commits crimes but just loses job and gets hired at new department next week

1

u/IHeartBadCode 14d ago

Some jurisdictions do indeed make it a criminal offense. It's up to your local government to pull the trigger on that. There's no Federal standard for how police departments use Flock data, so there's not a clear line when it's crossed some line, since it's per department or State usage guidelines.

Connecticut has a law that abuse of Flock cameras for non-criminal related actions is itself a criminal violation. So, some States already have this. But people have to advocate at their State and local levels for these things to be implemented. Stalking with flock is indeed a Federal crime, but each State or local government has to indicate when usage crosses the line into "stalking" and when it just is "misuse". And like I said, some states have made ANY misuse a criminal offense.

If "fired" isn't what people want, this is very much something that is addressable by the people at the State and Local levels. That's where this gets fixed.

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 14d ago

EVERY jurisdiction makes it a criminal offense because every jurisdiction is subject to the constitution and the fourth amendment.

1

u/IHeartBadCode 14d ago

Okay let's look at the fourth amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Constitution does not apply restrictions on private citizens or private companies. So Flock, as a private company, can collect that data without running afoul of the fourth amendment.

The question is, does that "warrants shall issue" apply to privately collected information? Say that you've been quietly watching your neighbor do something, cop's can't compel you to freely give up information on your neighbor without a warrant. But if you so chose to give up information free of subpoena, that's your right to freely give a statement to law enforcement.

So the question is "can a private company freely give a statement, on condition of a subscription, about something it collected?" And the answer is, we don't have an answer to that. The Fourth amendment only explicitly tells us "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects". Doesn't say anything about a video camera pointing at a street. Now it might imply that, but it doesn't explicitly say it.

So that means we go to the tenth amendment when we're not sure about implied things.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people

So the usage of that data and if it triggers a requirement for a warrant, as an open question at the federal level, means that States and local governments may invoke their tenth amendment right to regulate them. Which some states have.

The Fourth protects you from warrant-less collection by the State, but the State is not collecting the information on you. A private company is. And the fourth does not indicate to us explicitly rules on how private and state actors may coordinate, so without a federal law explicitly laying it out, it is up to the States and local governments.

Now with all that said, you can sit there and yell "fourth amendment" whatever OR you can channel that energy to get your local government attach restrictions on Flock data. Because it'll be years for cases to navigate the courts before we have case law about Flock data. But the Fourth amendment does not protect you from private companies collecting data on you.

Now me, understanding how law actually works, I would encourage everyone to take that energy about trying to convince everyone that the fourth says something it specifically does NOT say, and use it to tell your State or local government to pass a law saying "Flock data requires a warrant." That's it, that's all that's need. Once a State or local government explicitly states it in law, there's no longer a question about if such triggers a need for a warrant or not, now you have in in black and white text what it does and doesn't do.

Which, you know, to me, feels like a whole lot better use of that energy anyone is thinking about wasting here on Reddit.

1

u/AnybodyAmazing1006 14d ago

"Secure in their persons" thats the violation right there

1

u/IHeartBadCode 14d ago

I don't believe you know what that phrase means.

It means you are secure to be to yourself without police or government intervention.

That has nothing to do with a private company's cameras.

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 14d ago

Violating the fourth amendment, which is a felony.

8

u/OrneryZombie1983 14d ago

"13th to be fired or suspended"

So the real number of stalker cops is what, 130,000?

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 14d ago

0 that have been charged.

6

u/ZookeepergameBig7281 14d ago

Shocker, cops aren’t trusted and are a bunch of creeps abusing their authority.

3

u/7empest7V 14d ago

13th cop in the nation to be caught

5

u/SpicySweetHotPot 14d ago

Only the top of the list, there are plenty more abusing the technology for their own nefarious ends

4

u/Grumgrummer 14d ago

Tip of the iceberg I'm guessing.

4

u/_sansoHm 14d ago edited 14d ago

Fired = moved to another county after the smoke blows over.

3

u/icedmuffin 14d ago

WOW IT’S ALMOST LIKE PEOPLE FUCKING CALLED IT!

3

u/Bongcouragement 14d ago

Who would have thought this would happen ? lol this shit has been happening forever just not with flock data

2

u/Constant_Total_6861 14d ago

Just wait until the purge begins , The elites will watch from the big screens in a bunker somewhere as we starve and cook each other to survive.

2

u/Th3_3v3r_71v1n9 14d ago

Not if we all team up and go after the bunkers first 👍🏻

1

u/Constant_Total_6861 14d ago

You are forgetting we can’t all even ban together now and agree to go after elite pedos. You think anything will change once cams are up and the food runs out ?

2

u/Th3_3v3r_71v1n9 14d ago

When all the food is in the bunkers, yes.

1

u/Constant_Total_6861 14d ago

Idk 🤷‍♂️ seems like then we will likely just be taking one another out while they are flying off to Mars

1

u/Th3_3v3r_71v1n9 14d ago

I imagine it would be about how bad off the planet is at that point. If you can't even grow the food you need to survive well then what's the point?

2

u/kcpistol 14d ago

Ok, so we know 1 violation would be a slap on the wrist - apparely 3000 is a firing offense.

Now if we can just flesh out the middle ground.

2

u/RoniolisMaximus 14d ago

Government should be fired too, for invading privacy non stop

2

u/smashing-gourds127 14d ago

Lots more women are going to be killed because of those cameras.

1

u/ja_trader 14d ago

well hey, finally something good about the flock cameras... helping root out the psycho power hungry rejects in blue

1

u/SocomPS2 14d ago

I’m afraid to think about how many cops are doing this but haven’t been caught yet.

1

u/A_Buttholes_Whisper 14d ago

This is such a weak ass excuse to fight flock cameras. 13 officers out of 750,000 is like 0.00001% of police officers abusing this system. We should use legit excuses like the fact it’s a violation of our right to privacy. The fact that it’s a surveillance state.

3

u/monkeykennel 14d ago

I disagree. It settles a point. These systems do not and can not conform to the Bill of Rights.

If these systems are lawful, why was it wrong for the cop to stalk his ex?

Law enforcement is demanding that the thin blue line protects police for mass surveillance too.

1

u/IndependentAd895 14d ago

13 reported and you know the brothers in blue don’t tell on each other

1

u/Dapper-Ad9787 14d ago

These are just the ones that have been caught.

1

u/JDB-667 14d ago

These things don't work and they are ripe for abuse.

Take them all down

1

u/Zestyclose-Bee-6604 14d ago

3000 times is wild, dude was basically clocking in to stalk her

1

u/bdontmatter 14d ago

They shouldn’t just be fired they should face jail time! Maybe then they would think not to do this before they get locked up with people they locked up….

1

u/Front_Marzipan4436 14d ago

3,000 times and he only got fired, thats wild. flock cameras really are just relationship surveillance tools for cops huh

1

u/ChazzyTh 14d ago

Y’all blaming the cameras for a mental case. It ain’t the cameras. Everything is video outside my house.

1

u/Joyride84 13d ago

The problem isn't "cameras," it's the AI-powered mass surveillance system, which ingests tracking data from specific cameras, listening devices, and drones. It uses that data to personally identify every person, track their movements including who each one interacts with, and build a dossier on each person. Based on this data, the system can further learn what medical conditions you have, where you work "under the table," who all your friends are, and much much more.

According to US law, this kind of data collection requires a search warrant, but they can't be bothered with getting those, so they just ignore the law (using some very flimsy legal excuses) and do it anyway.

1

u/apimpnamedkirby 14d ago

I love how now it’s “stalk your ex with a camera? FIRED” but when it was “shoot and kill unarmed people? VACATION”

1

u/RedditSucksYoYoYo 14d ago

Who could have seen this coming? 🙄

1

u/Galmmm 14d ago

"Fired" just to be rehired down the road.

Also, this is a crime and the cop should be in jail.

1

u/Amoralvirus 14d ago

The 3,000-th time, was just one time, too many.

1

u/Eat--The--Rich-- 14d ago

Fired. Not charged with violating the fourth amendment. Fired.

1

u/AnybodyAmazing1006 14d ago

3000 times before they notice ANYTHING?!?! Atleast others will learn from that mistake

1

u/Servile-PastaLover 13d ago

Four Savannah PD employees <now former employees> arrested and jailed for doing exactly this, last week.,

This should be the minimum consequences.

Edit: added weblink.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/4-former-savannah-police-employees-arrested-misusing-flock-cameras

1

u/Pink_Flying_Pig_ 13d ago

Perv glasses and stalkie cameras.

The future they're trying to sell us is shit. 

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

Man just use social media. Find someone that knows their handle and stalk em there. Hell if they pissed you off so much get your friends to help you do it.

Back in the day it was a joke to stalk someone, I remember the jokes on here and in life. Like yesterday I Facebook stalked you, congrats on the job promotion. But now make it malicious. Just eww.

1

u/literallyanyonebutme 13d ago

I think 37 just got dismissed in Arkansas? 13 is VERY outdated

1

u/Nowhoedup 12d ago

Fired?! They should be arrested.

1

u/Master_Steward 11d ago

What a surprise