Indianapolis charged five police officers after they allegedly used a license plate camera network to track ex-partners and others they were interested in. Now, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said it has tightened up access requirements for officers and is auditing for additional misuse.
Flock Group Inc. manufactures camera stations that take photos of license plates and uses software to log the photos to a searchable database for enforcement. Through a shared network, IMPD can access thousands of cameras across the country. Flock cameras are highly controversial because of privacy concerns.
IMPD Chief Tanya Terry told WFYI the department is focused on identifying misuse and holding individual officers accountable.
“This technology increases safety in our community,” Terry said. “It is the misuse we have to focus on and do everything in our power to prevent that from happening in the future, and that’s why we have taken significant action since we discovered this misuse, and we have increased the safeguards internally.”
But IMPD has no plans to reduce the number of Flock cameras it leases.
“We’re not evaluating a reduction in the number of cameras. We still have about 301 cameras that IMPD leases as a use of part of our system,” she said. “So no, we’re not looking to reduce the number of cameras. This technology increases safety in our community.”
The officers’ charges come as more communities across the country and in Indiana question the cameras. In Fort Wayne, the City Council voted unanimously in August to not continue a contract for the city’s 36 flock cameras. The Fort Wayne police department then took the cameras offline and deleted its data from the national system. State lawmakers and Gov. Mike Braun has indicated interest in legislation that would create guardrails for how the technology is used.
Some Republican governors in other states have recently taken action. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott blocked police departments from spending state money on Flock cameras, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to revoke permits for automated license plate readers on state highways.
IMPD discovered the alleged misuse after one officer self-reported, according to Terry. After that, an audit revealed officers allegedly misused the database for thousands of searches. The department investigated and turned over the results to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears credited reporting from The Washington Post with initiating “a lot of this.” Terry said the department was “aware of officer misconduct” and “took appropriate steps initiating investigations” before the Post contacted the department about their story.
On Sept. 23, Mears announced the charges against the five officers at a news conference.
“Each individual count is associated with a license plate, meaning that whether or not an officer is alleged to have searched a license plate 10 times, or 100 times, or even 1,000 times, that will be one individual count of fraud,” Mears said.
The charged officers are: Matthew Dane Binford, Abigail Cramer, Cassandra Crawley, Michael Rogers and Jonathan Schultz. Their charges include multiple counts of fraud and official misconduct for alleged “thousands of impermissible searches,” according to Mears. Schultz received 26 counts, including 12 counts of fraud and two counts of stalking.
According to charging documents, the officers allegedly primarily used the system to search for ex-partners and other people that they know. Schultz allegedly used the system to search for women he was interested in and then sought opportunities to meet at least one of them, including at a gym.
Based on preliminary findings, Terry placed all five officers on administrative duty without police powers and revoked access to the ALPR systems, according to IMPD. One officer resigned.
Terry suspended and recommended the four other officers’ terminations to the Merit Board.
The charging documents describe how officers access the Flock system. IMPD officers had to complete video training and acknowledge a user agreement that says if they violate a standard operating procedure for the technology, it could “result in immediate termination of all camera and ALPR access as well as possible investigation of violations of IMPD Rules, Regulations, G.O.’s, City Ordinances or State and Federal Laws,” according to the charging documents.
The department’s standard operating procedure from Aug. 9, 2023 includes a guideline saying that employees should only use Flock systems “when directly related to a specific, articulable law enforcement purpose.”
After an officer logs in to the system, they must approve a pop-up window that states, “I am accessing a restricted information system for an authorized use, in compliance with the FBI CJIS Security Policy. I agree to use the system in accordance with the laws of my jurisdiction.”
IMPD officers can access Flock cameras on department-issued computers and a mobile app, but to search, officers had to enter a reason.
The department has now tightened some of those access requirements, Terry said. Officers now must enter a specific case number or incident assigned by a dispatcher, as well as including a National Incident-Based Reporting System crime type number, to conduct a search.
Terry said there were two other reforms. IMPD created a new policy officers must sign. Those who don’t, lose access to Flock. The department has also restricted login credential sharing and is working “with the General Orders Board to further evaluate this policy and what it’s going to look like in its final version.”
Mears said there may be additional charges.
“I know IMPD’s continue to investigate these matters, and they’ve certainly made us aware that there are additional cases that they’re looking into. So today is by no means the end of it,” Mears said. “I think today is just the beginning.”
Contact WFYI data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.
