San Jose cop fired after using Flock to help cousin track woman, chief says

The San Jose Police Department admitted to firing an officer in April who abused the department’s Flock system to help his cousin track a woman who had accused him of domestic violence, the Mercury News reported this month. 

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According to the outlet, the department discovered that the officer used his personal phone to gather data on the unidentified woman’s vehicle and share it with his cousin, who then used it to locate her. 

Per the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit organization that tracks abuse of automatic license plate reading systems, or ALPRs, this is the third time an official has used this surveillance technology to stalk women in the state of California. In June 2024, ex-Riverside County sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Vanny was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping his ex-fiance with the aid of the technology, and earlier in 2023, a former officer in Orange County admitted to using Flock to stalk his lover and her romantic interests. Vanny, who was charged with multiple felonies, including possessing child pornography, has since been released after posting $1 million bail, KABC-TV reported.

“When an officer violates the public’s trust this severely, my responsibility is clear: that person cannot remain in a position of police authority, and they cannot wear the San Jose badge,” San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph told SFGATE in a statement Monday.

The department immediately put the officer on administrative leave and launched a criminal investigation before ultimately terminating him, the department told SFGATE. Officers are now prohibited from accessing ALPRs and other law enforcement systems on their personal devices, and SJPD is currently testing out new tools to flag officers who may be improperly accessing this data, it said.

This isn’t the first time SJPD has come under fire for its use of automated license plate readers. 

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In 2025, the ACLU of Northern California and the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a lawsuit against Joseph, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and the city, requesting law enforcement only use this data after obtaining a warrant. 

“A person who regularly drives through an area subject to ALPR surveillance can have their location information captured multiple times per day,” the lawsuit says. “This information can reveal travel patterns and provide an intimate window into a person’s life as they travel from home to work, drop off their children at school, or park at a house of worship, a doctor’s office, or a protest. It could also reveal whether a person crossed state lines to seek health care in California.” 

According to EFF, almost 500 automated license plate readers were deployed along roads in San Jose as of 2025.

This breaking news story has been updated.