License‑plate reader audit gap

Police license‑plate reader networks (eg. Flock’s roadside cameras) can be and have been used by officers for personal stalking and unauthorized tracking because regular auditing, access controls, and independent oversight are absent or weak. The Indianapolis case — officers charged after thousands of plate lookups and a systemwide audit of a 301‑camera deployment — shows these are not isolated abuses but a governance failure tied to how sensor logs are monitored and who gets access. — This points to an urgent policy problem: municipalities are buying and operating pervasive vehicle‑tracking systems without institutional checks that would prevent or detect officer misuse, threatening privacy and rule‑of‑law norms.