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A police chief in Sedgwick, Kansas, misused the Flock Safety license plate reader system to stalk and track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend 228 times over four months.
From June to October 2023, Sedgwick, Kansas, Police Chief Lee Nygaard reportedly used Flock Safety license-plate readers 228 times to check the whereabouts of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, according to a Kansas certification order. The order said he also followed them in a police vehicle and ultimately admitted jealousy influenced his conduct. Nygaard resigned in October 2023 and later lost his police certification.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Also classified as
The system's lack of robust access controls and automated anomaly detection allowed authorized users to easily bypass search justification requirements.
The incident involves an individual using an AI-enabled surveillance system for targeted harassment, stalking, and personal exploitation of specific victims.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
The stalking and unauthorized tracking were caused by the intentional decisions and actions of a human operator misusing the deployed system.
Added categories peak at 2: Minor (Psychological Harm, Inferred)
A local police chief in Kansas misused the Flock Safety license plate reader database to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her partner. While the incident represents a severe breach of trust and a violation of individual civil liberties, its national security impact is negligible to minor, as it was a localized, non-state personal dispute with no systemic threat to national infrastructure, sovereignty, or stability.
The Flock Safety license plate reader system operates as a tool, performing the specific function of capturing, reading, and searching license plates based on direct user queries without autonomous planning or agency.
High Risk: The system is used in law enforcement applications, specifically for monitoring and tracking vehicle movements, which has significant implications for fundamental rights and public safety.
The primary function of the Flock Safety system is to read license plates and track vehicle locations to assist law enforcement.
The report provides precise details, including the exact number of unauthorized searches (228 total, 164 for the ex-girlfriend, 64 for the boyfriend), the specific dates, the search terms used, and the official actions taken against the officer.
None
Technology
Weak Search Justification System
The software accepted generic, unverified search justifications like 'test'.
Lack of Automated Abuse Alerts
The ALPR system did not automatically flag repeated searches for same plates.
No Real-Time Validation
The technology lacked real-time validation of entered police case numbers.
Data Inputs
Unverified Manual Search Terms
System accepted arbitrary search reason inputs without verifying case existence.
Human Factors
Malicious Intent and Jealousy
The police chief abused his access privileges due to personal jealousy.
Abuse of Positional Trust
The city placed high trust in the chief, allowing unmonitored system access.
Process and Methods
Infeasible Manual Auditing
Police departments stated that auditing every individual search was impossible.
Lack of Proactive Audit Procedures
No routine, proactive audits were conducted to catch unauthorized searches.
Absence of Internal Usage Policies
The local department lacked strict policies preventing personal use of Flock.
Management
Inadequate Oversight of Chief
City management failed to oversee the chief's daily operational tool usage.
Lack of Vendor Oversight
Flock relied entirely on local agencies to self-police system usage.
Regulatory Environment
Hidden Camera Locations
Legislative lobbying kept camera locations secret, reducing public oversight.
AI system involved
Identified by automated extraction; can differ from the alleged developers above.
