AI incident #1689 ·
Fort Bend County, Texas, Sheriff's Office Lieutenant Reportedly Used Flock Safety License-Plate Reader System for 189 Non-Law-Enforcement Searches
What happened
From January 2022 through December 2025, a Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office lieutenant in Texas reportedly used Flock Safety's license-plate reader system to search two vehicle plates 189 times and admitted the searches were unrelated to official law-enforcement work. A resident alleged stalking and feared for their family's safety. Internal affairs found department-order violations and imposed a two-day suspension.
Editor's notes (AI Incident Database)
(1) 01/2022–12/2025: the period during which the reported misuse occurred; (2) 07/17/2026: ABC13 reported internal-affairs records showing the misuse and a two-day suspension for violations of department orders; (3) The incident ID date 01/01/2022 is an approximation; the ID itself was created 09/16/2026.
Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.
News reports (2)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
- Alleged deployer
- Stalkers Law enforcement Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office (Texas)
- Alleged developer
- Surveillance technology developers Flock Safety Automated license plate reader (ALPR) developers
- Alleged harmed party
- Privacy Individuals whose license plate data were accessed for non-law-enforcement purposes
AI systems implicated
Surveillance technologyLaw enforcement databasesFlock Safety automated license plate reader systemAutomated license plate readers (ALPR)
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
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- Risk subdomain
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- Causal entity
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- Intent
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- Timing
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- Harm level
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Related incidents on the AI Incident Database
Linked by AIID editors or by its text-similarity model.
Other incidents involving Stalkers
- ChatGPT Was Alleged to Have Reinforced Pittsburgh Man's Stalking and Threats Against Women
- Kechi, Kansas Police Lieutenant Victor Heiar Used Flock Safety License-Plate Reader System to Monitor Estranged Wife
- Queensland Man Allegedly Distributed Purportedly AI-Generated Sexual Posters Falsely Advertising Women for Sex