San Jose officer fired after sharing Flock data with domestic violence suspect

A San Jose police officer was fired after using a personal device to make unauthorized searches of the department’s Flock license-plate reader database and sharing a domestic-violence victim’s vehicle location with the alleged abuser, who was reportedly the officer’s cousin. Police Chief Paul Joseph said the officer was placed on leave, investigated, referred to the district attorney, and ultimately terminated, calling the conduct a “betrayal of the public trust.” No criminal charges were filed, in part because California law does not clearly cover misuse of automated license-plate reader data. The department has since barred officers from accessing law-enforcement databases on personal devices, while privacy advocates cited the case as evidence that the surveillance technology creates risks of abuse despite its use in investigations such as locating armed-robbery suspects. The incident adds to reported cases of officers in California and elsewhere using Flock systems to track spouses, former partners, or other individuals for personal reasons.