The St. Charles County Police Department announced today that it has discontinued use of the Flock license plate readers (LPRs) and adopted new safeguards for requesting information on license plates after a new audit tool revealed a civilian employee abused the Flock data system.
The Department has been one of several law enforcement agencies in the region that use a network of LPRs to actively investigate stolen vehicles and other vehicles wanted in connection with felony crimes.
Because the Flock system has lacked an upfront check-and-balance on law enforcement requests for data, and also lacks a readily available audit system across the entire history of its available data, in early August, the County began reviewing the process of terminating its contract for Flock cameras, including some at County park entrances and others at traffic intersections.
On Aug. 12, St. Charles County Police Chief Kurt Frisz received information concerning Flock’s new audit assistance program from Flock representatives. The Chief forwarded the information to his investigative bureau. This new audit tool allows an audit of the system’s usage by law enforcement personnel, automatically scanning for questionable patterns of searches from Jan. 1, 2026, forward. However, the new Flock audit assistance program does not provide easy access to the complete history of searches. On the morning of Aug. 14, Chief Frisz was informed of an abnormal pattern of searches on Flock cameras by one civilian employee after conducting an audit of all County users with access to Flock data.
Chief Frisz immediately ordered an internal investigation and suspended the employee’s credentials, cutting off the employee’s access to law enforcement-only information. During an interview, the civilian employee admitted to inappropriate use of the system for a personal, non-law-enforcement purpose. The employee was put on unpaid leave and, after the internal investigation was provided to the Chief, was subsequently provided notice of termination. The employee resigned shortly thereafter. The employee’s name is not being released in accordance with personnel ordinances. The matter has been referred to an outside police agency for criminal investigation and independent determination of whether criminal charges should be sought.
The audit conducted using the new Flock audit tool showed no other patterns of unauthorized use by any other St. Charles County Police Department employees dating back to January 2026. Further, Chief Frisz has restricted access to all historic data available through Flock to a limited number of key supervisory employees, along with the officers assigned to the Regional Intelligence and Information Center. All searches by these authorized personnel will be regularly audited to ensure no personal or improper use is occurring.
Chief Frisz expressed his commitment to proper use of any law enforcement data available to his officers through any source.
“This employee’s egregious misuse of the data system may be limited to a personal matter, but I am committed to ensuring that every use of the tools law enforcement has is audited, from my own access to the newest recruit, Frisz said. “And then we ensure we audit the auditors.”