News: 0186085660

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Another Woman Sues Flock For Mistaken Crime Accusation By Police - and for Surveillance (coloradosun.com)

(Saturday October 10, 2026 @03:54PM (EditorDavid) from the neighborhood-watched-program dept.)


Last week a Florida woman sued Flock over its role in police officer [1]accusing her of a crime she didn't commit But [2]she's not the only one suing Flock over mistaken accusations , reports Gizmodo: .

> A Ring video of a Colorado woman being handed a criminal summons for [3]a porch-package theft she did not commit recently went viral after the accusation rested on a Flock Safety automated license plate reader hit. Now, the woman involved in that case, Chrisanna Elser, is suing Flock Group, the towns of Columbine Valley and Bow Mar, Sergeant Jamie Milliman, and Chief Bret Cottrell in federal court on behalf of herself and other Coloradans whose plates the company has logged...

>

> The package in question was worth $25... The claims aimed at the company are intrusion upon seclusion, plus negligence and negligent design, on the theory that Flock sold a searchable archive and refused to require a warrant, a case number, or a supervisor's sign-off before an officer could run a plate... Elser is asking the court to make Columbine Valley, Bow Mar, Cottrell, and Flock delete the retained location data, to bar them from keeping it unless it is tied to an open case number, and to make Flock require a warrant, a case number, and a supervisor's approval before a Colorado agency can search the system.

[4] The Colorado Sun has more details . "Elser did not steal anything, but spent the following two weeks proving her own evidence to a department that did not return her calls, she said.

> [P]olice Sgt. Jamie Milliman told her the town of Bow Mar's surveillance cameras captured her forest green Rivian driving through town the same day a package disappeared from a thief... When Elser offered to show her own evidence to prove her innocence, including footage from her Rivian's onboard cameras, Milliman said she could bring it to court. Now, she is suing the officers and Flock Safety in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleging that the warrantless tracking violated her constitutional rights and that Flock's surveillance system unlawfully documents Coloradans' movements... "The scariest part is what happened to me can happen to anyone. I had no idea the Flock cameras existed and no idea a private company was keeping a record of every time I drove past my own neighborhood, or that any officer could pull it up without asking anyone or giving a reason for doing so," Elser said in a statement Tuesday. "If it can happen to me, it can happen to you...."

>

> "As noted in the complaint, the Flock system accurately identified the location of Ms. Elser's vehicle, while law enforcement retained responsibility for interpreting and weighing that information as part of the broader investigation," Paris Lewbel, Flock's public relations manager said. "Flock stands by the accuracy and integrity of its technology and intends to vigorously defend itself in this litigation."

The article includes this statement from the woman's attorney. "Coloradans pass Flock's cameras on the way to work, church, the doctor, a protest, and a friend's house, and Flock keeps a detailed record of their every movement. It knows where you went, when you went there, and how often you go back, and it gives that information to a police officer with no limits.

"We are asking a federal court to say what should be obvious: Flock's surveillance is straight-up creepy and the government does not get to follow everyone, all the time, without any reason for doing so."



[1] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/10/03/0612209/flock-blamed-for-wrongful-13-day-imprisonment-and-a-police-stalking-incident-in-florida

[2] https://gizmodo.com/colorado-woman-sues-flock-after-cameras-used-in-false-package-theft-accusation-2000823047

[3] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/25/11/01/2359245/woman-wrongfully-accused-by-a-license-plate-reading-camera---then-exonerated-by-camera-equipped-car

[4] https://coloradosun.com/2026/10/06/flock-cameras-columbine-valley-police-colorado-lawsuit/



Why are more people not cutting them divacup? (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

It's a T27 "tamper PROOF" bit on the poles that come in sections as most of them around here are. Then that little stainless steel collar inside keeping the two tubes connected slides down, lol. Disconnect the solar panel and remove the screws in the camera itself to take out the internal battery. There's a serial port GPS puck inside that WILL track you if you don't take the proper precautions!

Re: (Score:2)

by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

> There's a serial port GPS puck inside that WILL track you if you don't take the proper precautions!

Does it have a compass too? Those are handy. What's the battery voltage?

Re:Why are more people not cutting them divacup? (Score:4, Informative)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

It also has a 64GB stick of DDR5 in each camera.

Re: (Score:2)

by Cajun Hell ( 725246 )

I heard there are twelve Golden Flock cameras out there, each containing a coupon for a free blowjob, redeemable anywhere, but no one knows where these twelve are. You just have to search them all.

Your RAM upgrade is two flock away ... (Score:1)

by drnb ( 2434720 )

> It also has a 64GB stick of DDR5 in each camera.

Stating that will probably incite more tampering that all the posted moral outrage combined. :-)

Re: (Score:3)

by Powercntrl ( 458442 )

I dunno, why aren't more people vandalizing devices that can snap your picture and upload to the cloud (to a database the authorities can search with no oversight) while you're actively in the process of committing what would likely result in felony charges in most states? The reality is Flock cameras have negative scrap value (they're essentially e-waste), and if you're really intent on picking up garbage from the streets, you might as well stick to the kinds of trash that are perfectly legal to collect a

We're seeing a pattern here (Score:4, Insightful)

by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

Whatever else, Flock is very imprecise, prone to bad errors, and we're seeing a pattern of innocent people being arrested. Police should look at evidence rather than clog up court time. And apparently under Flock Law, one must prove they are innocent, because the Flock system is looked at as infallible.

Flock needs to be stopped, because people will eventually be terminated for a flock mistake,

Meanwhile, The CEO of Flock is online demanding his picture not be posted. The irony. However it appears the internet is doing what it does,

Re:We're seeing a pattern here (Score:4, Interesting)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

The One Percenters are starting to worry about getting Mangione'd by the people they exploit.

Re: (Score:2)

by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

> The One Percenters are starting to worry about getting Mangione'd by the people they exploit.

Mangione'd Well played sir!

Re: (Score:2)

by martin-boundary ( 547041 )

I like it! I've xeroxed a screenshot of your comment and mailed it to my elderly children:)

Re: (Score:2)

by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )

> Whatever else, Flock is very imprecise, prone to bad errors, and we're seeing a pattern of innocent people being arrested. Police should look at evidence rather than clog up court time. And apparently under Flock Law, one must prove they are innocent, because the Flock system is looked at as infallible.

In addition, it fosters sloppy police work. Even *if* Flock surveillance was infallible, proper analysis would still be required. In this case, the "evidence" (below) seems wildly inadequate and requires the accused to prove her innocence. Using the below as a the basis for a prosecution seems criminally negligent.

> [P]olice Sgt. Jamie Milliman told her the town of Bow Mar's surveillance cameras captured her forest green Rivian driving through town the same day a package disappeared from a thief.

Re: (Score:3)

by kqs ( 1038910 )

> In addition, it fosters sloppy police work. Even *if* Flock surveillance was infallible, proper analysis would still be required.

Yes; most of these false arrests would have been avoided with a small amount of policework. Sadly, police face few consequences for poor actions (even fewer now that the administration has stopped federal oversight of questionable police forces; hope everyone is having the day they voted for!)

This doesn't limit the liability for flock and similar surveillance systems, but it should (but obviously will not) add liability for law enforcement which relies on these surveillance systems.

Re: (Score:2)

by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

>> In addition, it fosters sloppy police work. Even *if* Flock surveillance was infallible, proper analysis would still be required.

> Yes; most of these false arrests would have been avoided with a small amount of policework. Sadly, police face few consequences for poor actions (even fewer now that the administration has stopped federal oversight of questionable police forces; hope everyone is having the day they voted for!)

It'll be all fun and games until MAGAs get nabbed. Remind me to cry for them.

> This doesn't limit the liability for flock and similar surveillance systems, but it should (but obviously will not) add liability for law enforcement which relies on these surveillance systems.

Just keeping it out of their hands will do for now. And remember, this too shall pass.

Re:We're seeing a pattern here (Score:4, Insightful)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

> Whatever else, Flock is very imprecise, prone to bad errors, and we're seeing a pattern of innocent people being arrested. Police should look at evidence rather than clog up court time.

Except that the information Flock logged in their database was correct . It was the cops who decided that she was guilty just because she drove thru the town that day.

This was not a Flock error. It was bad cops.

The problem with Flock is that it should not be legal for it to exist. It is legal, and we need to change that. We need bar the collection of this kind of data, unless required to provide a service, and mandate the deletion of any data that is collected as soon as it is no longer necessary. If data is collected, it will be abused. There is no safeguard that can prevent that other than not collecting it in the first place.

Bad cops. That is a bigger problem. We need better cops. We need to purge bad cops from the force and hold those who remain to a higher standard. "with great power... great responsibility" The tradeoff is that we will not have many cops if we do.

Re:We're seeing a pattern here (Score:4, Interesting)

by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 )

>> Whatever else, Flock is very imprecise, prone to bad errors, and we're seeing a pattern of innocent people being arrested. Police should look at evidence rather than clog up court time.

> Except that the information Flock logged in their database was correct . It was the cops who decided that she was guilty just because she drove thru the town that day.

> This was not a Flock error. It was bad cops.

One I was referring to was the incorrectly entered license plate what got a woman pulled over for suspected homicide - twice. A database error. After teh second time, they advised her to not drive that vehicle until they cleared the system and propagated the correct information.

This was not a bad cop, it was an error in the flock system. An error that can get people killed

Are their bad police? Sure. But your claims would appear to say that every single flock problem is by definition the result of criminal police. That's 100 percent the wrong approach. What is needed is logged interactions with data provided, such as the reason someone is maybe stalking someone. If Officer Joe Jones is stalking his ex wife Cynthia Jones, flock should be able to flag it. There are protections that Flock has none of at this time.

> The problem with Flock is that it should not be legal for it to exist.

Problem is, if something can exist, it in fact will exist, Trying to make all license plate readers illegal is quixotic, honorable in intent, but doomed to fail.

Better to understand that, and implement enough safeguards to keep the bad guys and gals from doing bad things.

Re: (Score:2)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

> One I was referring to was the incorrectly entered license plate what got a woman pulled over for suspected homicide - twice. A database error. After teh second time, they advised her to not drive that vehicle until they cleared the system and propagated the correct information.

> This was not a bad cop, it was an error in the flock system. An error that can get people killed

That was a cop error, not a Flock error. A cop entered the wrong license plate number into the database as the suspect vehicle. The Flock database faithfully reported that license plate number, and the other cops reacted to finding the reported suspect vehicle. This happened in the days before flock as well -cops put out an APB on the wrong vehicle/suspect.

> Problem is, if something can exist, it in fact will exist, Trying to make all license plate readers illegal is quixotic, honorable in intent, but doomed to fail.

> Better to understand that, and implement enough safeguards to keep the bad guys and gals from doing bad things.

License plate readers are not the problem, the database of all known occurrences over time is. I don't think we will outlaw surveillance databases in

Quaint, outmoded concepts (Score:3)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

- [1]Freedom of movement [wikipedia.org]

- [2]Right to privacy [wikipedia.org]

- [3]Freedom of assembly [wikipedia.org]

- [4]Protection from unreasonable searches and seizures [wikipedia.org]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_movement_under_United_States_law

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_privacy

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Re: (Score:2)

by jacks smirking reven ( 909048 )

Pretty blackpilling that the people who I heard my whole life whipped into a frenzy over how sacrosanct those all were turned out the the people who have come the closest to dismantling it, seemingly because we had the audacity to elect a black man to President. And then trying a woman next?

It's not just surveillance - it's digital stalking (Score:5, Insightful)

by Sethra ( 55187 )

It's one thing to say "You have no expectation of privacy in public" and quite another to have someone following you everywhere you go, recording all you do and providing that information to government agencies without a warrant. Someone out filming a concert and you happen to be in the shoot isn't the same as having a detailed tracking record created on you, this is digital stalking.

This needs to end, it's a clear violation of the 4th amendment.

Re: It's not just surveillance - it's digital stal (Score:3)

by FudRucker ( 866063 )

Yup, you nailed it, this is clearly digital stalking by a government that is sliding down that slippery slope to tyranny

Fuck Flock (Score:3)

by RitchCraft ( 6454710 )

Someone needs to shove a Flock camera up the Flock CEO's ass.

Flock will never be a Pride (Score:2)

by nospam007 ( 722110 ) *

nft

Spence's Admonition:
Never stow away on a kamikaze plane.