Ex-Officers Kept Access to Flock Cameras Long After Leaving the Police

Former U.S. police officers retained access to Flock’s nationwide vehicle-tracking network after leaving their jobs, with one former investigator conducting searches for five years after surrendering his badge, a Washington Post investigation found.

The findings expose failures by police departments to deactivate accounts and weaknesses in security controls governing a network of at least 120,000 roadside cameras.

In four of the 11 unauthorized-access incidents identified by the newspaper, officers continued using Flock after leaving their agencies or while suspended.

Six others involved credentials or access shared with officers from outside departments.

Five Years of Continued Access

Andrae Wright left Georgia’s Effingham County Sheriff’s Office in 2021.

His Flock credentials remained usable, allowing him to conduct more than 60 searches over the following five years, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation statements and audit records reviewed by the Post.

Those records showed repeated searches for a personalized license plate bearing his wife’s middle name.

Some occurred while Wright was seeking permanent custody of their teenage daughter. The couple divorced this year.

Authorities arrested Wright in July and charged him with stalking his wife. His warrant accused him of using Flock information “for the purpose of harassing and intimidating her.”

Wright did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. The sheriff’s office said it had not regularly reviewed account access but planned to introduce audits.

Authorities have also investigated former officers in Fulton County, Georgia, and Michigan over suspected searches after their employment ended.

In Fulton County, the former officer’s department shared a Flock subscription with the sheriff’s office.

No one notified the sheriff’s office to revoke her access when she resigned, according to Police Chief Wade Yates.

“They didn’t remove the employee,” Yates said. “I’ll take the heat for that.”

His department has since obtained a separate account and introduced procedures for removing former employees.

Shared Credentials, Personal Searches

The investigation also documented how access could persist without an authorized account.

In Indianapolis, recruit Matthew Binford used a senior colleague’s credentials after that officer opened Flock on Binford’s laptop and left the session active.

Binford retained access for more than two years and searched his estranged wife’s plate more than 1,000 times within 12 months, according to a court affidavit.

Prosecutors charged Binford and four other Indianapolis officers last month after a Post inquiry prompted a department-wide audit. Binford declined to comment.

Elsewhere, reviews found access extended well beyond operational need.

Georgia’s Cobb County Sheriff’s Office reduced its authorized users from about 200 to roughly 50 after discovering that employees with no work-related need could use the system.

Its review found no apparent misuse.

Security Controls Tightened

Three former Flock employees told the Post that company leaders had resisted stronger safeguards. Two said managers feared that additional restrictions would complicate sales to police agencies.

Flock contracts require official agency email addresses, but the company acknowledged that widespread enforcement began only recently.

Multi-factor authentication became the default setting in 2024, with agencies still able to opt out. Flock made it mandatory in August.

After receiving the newspaper’s findings, Flock said it was working with customers to remove accounts registered to personal email addresses and credentials shared between users.

It also said users would have to log in again every 12 hours starting next year.

The company declined to address individual cases or former employees’ accounts. Spokesman Paris Lewbel said Flock acts when it identifies security weaknesses or policy violations.