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NOPE
Medium reported severity Regulatory Action

Sedgwick, Kansas: the town's police chief ran his ex-girlfriend's plate through Flock license-plate readers 164 times and her new boyfriend's 64 times between June and October 2023 and followed them in his police vehicle, according to the state police-certification commission, which revoked his certification; he resigned in October 2023 and was not charged

According to an order of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers' Standards and Training (KSCPOST) reported by the Wichita Eagle and KAKE in August 2024, the police chief of Sedgwick, Kansas, used the city's Flock Safety license-plate readers to check his ex-girlfriend's whereabouts 164 times between 24 June and 5 October 2023 and her new boyfriend's 64 times between 11 August and 10 October 2023, logging reasons such as missing child and drug investigation. The order says he also used his police vehicle to follow the two of them outside Sedgwick and on other occasions to keep tabs on them, and that he confronted the woman and told her to get back to town. He first said he was following them because of drug issues but admitted that jealousy was involved. He was placed on leave in October 2023 over unrelated misconduct allegations, admitted the Flock misuse during that investigation, and resigned on 20 October 2023. KSCPOST revoked his certification. The city administrator said the case did not appear sufficient for a criminal investigation, and no charges were filed. The city later cut back its Flock cameras.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
24 Jun 2023 to 10 Oct 2023
Reported
17 August 2024
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Justice · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
3 claims: 3 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
2 people

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate readers operated by the Sedgwick, Kansas, police department, which the chief searched for the plates of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend

What Happened

The Wichita Eagle (17 August 2024) reports a KSCPOST order revoking the license of the former Sedgwick police chief, who had led the department of the town of about 1,600 people north of Wichita. According to the order, he used Flock cameras to check his ex-girlfriend's whereabouts 164 times from 24 June to 5 October 2023 and her new boyfriend's 64 times from 11 August to 10 October 2023, recording search reasons including 'suspicious', 'missing child', 'drug investigation' and 'narcotics investigation'. The order also says he used his police vehicle to follow the two outside Sedgwick and on other occasions to 'keep tabs' on them, and that he confronted the woman and told her to get back to town; he initially claimed he was following them because of drug issues but admitted that jealousy was involved. City administrator Kyle Nordick told the Eagle that the chief admitted the Flock misuse while being investigated for an unrelated misconduct case, which was substantiated, that he used the city's Flock cameras only for tracking the two, and that the case did not appear sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation but violated the city's ethics policy and officers' standards of conduct. He resigned on 20 October 2023. KAKE reports the same KSCPOST findings and that he was placed on paid administrative leave in October 2023 over multiple misconduct allegations. Flock told the Eagle it had not been formally notified of the incident.

Reported harm

According to the state police-certification commission's order, a police chief tracked his ex-girlfriend's and her new boyfriend's vehicles through Flock license-plate readers 228 times between June and October 2023, followed them in his police vehicle and confronted the woman (Wichita Eagle, KAKE).

Outcome

Resolved

The chief was placed on paid administrative leave in October 2023 over unrelated misconduct allegations and resigned on 20 October 2023; the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers' Standards and Training revoked his law-enforcement certification (order reported August 2024). The city administrator said the Flock misuse did not appear sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation; no charges were filed. Sedgwick stopped using two of its four Flock cameras, a decision the administrator said this incident contributed to.

What remains unknown

  • Whether the ex-girlfriend or her boyfriend knew of the tracking at the time, and what effect it had on them; no statement from either is reported.
  • The unrelated misconduct that prompted the investigation (the city would not say).
  • The full text of the KSCPOST order.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The KSCPOST revocation order, as reported by the Wichita Eagle and KAKE, says the chief used Flock license-plate readers to run his ex-girlfriend's tags 164 times and her new boyfriend's 64 times, and the city administrator told the Eagle that the chief admitted misusing Flock. The automated readers generated the vehicle-location records about the two people; the searches and the following are recorded as the chief's own acts.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the KSCPOST order, the Sedgwick police chief used Flock license-plate readers to check his ex-girlfriend's whereabouts 164 times from 24 June to 5 October 2023 and her new boyfriend's 64 times from 11 August to 10 October 2023.

Causal attribution. KSCPOST order as reported by two outlets (one chain); the order itself was not inspected.

  • kansas.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He used Flock cameras to check for his ex-girlfriend’s whereabouts 164 times from June 24 to Oct. 5, 2023, and her new boyfriend’s whereabouts 64 times from Aug. 11 to Oct. 10, 2023, according to the order from the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training that revoked his license.'
  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'used Flock license plate readers to run his ex-girlfriend’s tags 164 times between June and October of 2023 and 64 times on her boyfriend’s tag.'
Reported The order says he also used his police vehicle to follow the two outside Sedgwick and on other occasions to keep tabs on them, confronted the woman and told her to get back to town, and admitted that jealousy was involved after first citing drug issues.

Causal attribution. KSCPOST order findings as quoted by the Eagle and KAKE.

  • kansas.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'and told her to get back to town,'; 'ultimately admitted that jealousy was involved in his decision to do so,'
  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'used a police vehicle to follow his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend outside of city limits.'
Reported The chief admitted the Flock misuse while under investigation for an unrelated misconduct case, resigned on 20 October 2023 and lost his police certification; the city administrator said the case did not appear sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation, and he was not charged.

Causal attribution. City administrator's statements and the KSCPOST action as reported.

  • kansas.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'admitted to misusing Flock while he was being investigated for an unrelated misconduct case, a Sedgwick official said.'; 'won’t face any charges, but he did lose his police certification.'; 'He resigned Oct. 20, 2023.'; 'did not appear to be sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation'
  • kake.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'certification has been revoked after he used police investigation equipment to keep tabs on his ex-girlfriend.'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read on 2026-10-03 from the Internet Archive capture of 21 July 2026 (Wichita Eagle, 17 August 2024); the live site timed out. Reports the KSCPOST order and interviews the Sedgwick city administrator; the order itself was not read. Applies to s1.

Read on 2026-10-03 from the Internet Archive capture of 6 September 2026 (KAKE, 18 August 2024 per the page metadata); the live site returned HTTP 429. Reports the same KSCPOST order. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

The Sedgwick police department and its Flock cameras are in Sedgwick, Kansas, and the order says he followed the two outside Sedgwick (Wichita Eagle, KAKE). The action was a state commission order; no court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-03: Published as a contextual case (made_claim_about) consistent with earlier officer-misuse rows for Flock license-plate readers: a state commission order, reported by the Wichita Eagle and KAKE, found that a town police chief tracked his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend through Flock readers 228 times and followed them, and revoked his certification. The former chief, the woman and her boyfriend are not named.

People described

The police chief's ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend, Kansas residents (neither is named)

People reported harmed in this case

2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Two people: the ex-girlfriend (164 plate searches) and her new boyfriend (64 plate searches), both followed in the police vehicle, per the KSCPOST order as reported by the Wichita Eagle and KAKE. Exact 2.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#flock#alpr#license-plate-reader#police-misuse#stalking#kansas#sedgwick#certification-revoked

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Sedgwick, Kansas: the town's police chief ran his ex-girlfriend's plate through Flock license-plate readers 164 times and her new boyfriend's 64 times between June and October 2023 and followed them in his police vehicle, according to the state police-certification commission, which revoked his certification; he resigned in October 2023 and was not charged. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2023-sedgwick-kansas-police-chief-flock-alpr-tracked-ex-girlfriend-and-new-boyfriend-certification-revoked

BibTeX

@misc{2023_sedgwick_kansas_police_chief_flock_alpr_tracked_ex_girlfriend_and_new_boyfriend_certification_revoked,
  title = {Sedgwick, Kansas: the town's police chief ran his ex-girlfriend's plate through Flock license-plate readers 164 times and her new boyfriend's 64 times between June and October 2023 and followed them in his police vehicle, according to the state police-certification commission, which revoked his certification; he resigned in October 2023 and was not charged},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2023-sedgwick-kansas-police-chief-flock-alpr-tracked-ex-girlfriend-and-new-boyfriend-certification-revoked}
}

Related cases

Medium Flock Safety license plate readers

Katy, Texas: a former police officer is indicted in Fort Bend County on felony stalking and misuse of official information, accused of using the Katy Police Department's Flock license-plate readers to track his ex-wife's location between November 2024 and April 2025 and of placing a tracking device on her vehicle; he was fired and has pleaded not guilty

A former Katy Police Department officer faces two third-degree felony indictments in Fort Bend County, Texas, for stalking and misuse of official information, according to court records reported by KPRC 2 and Houston Public Media (25 August 2026). Prosecutors accuse him of using the department's Flock license-plate-reader system to track his ex-wife's location on more than one occasion between November 2024 and April 2025, and the stalking indictment also accuses him of placing a tracking device on her vehicle; it alleges the conduct caused her to feel harassed, alarmed and tormented. The Katy Police Department says the ex-wife complained in October 2025 that she believed he was tracking her whereabouts, that its investigation found he had misused the Flock system to run her plate, and that he was suspended, fired and referred to the Fort Bend County District Attorney. He was arrested in May 2026, released on bond with conditions barring contact with her and use of tracking devices and law-enforcement databases, and has pleaded not guilty. The department says the same Flock system that was abused was used to bring the charges.

Low Flock Safety license plate readers

Stow, Massachusetts: a police detective resigned amid termination proceedings after an internal-affairs investigation found that the officer ran vehicle searches through Flock license-plate readers and state criminal-justice systems with no law-enforcement reason to get information about a Worcester County resident known to the officer; the department sought criminal charges and ended its Flock contract

The Stow Police Department in Massachusetts placed an officer, a detective and acting sergeant, on administrative leave on 18 June 2026, within three hours of a complaint from a Worcester County resident who was known to the officer. According to the department, an internal-affairs investigation found that the officer tried to obtain personal information about the resident several times in 2024 and 2025, ran vehicle information through Flock Safety's license-plate-reader system and the state Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) system on multiple dates with no legitimate law-enforcement reason, and accessed criminal offender record information at least five times. The Sentinel and Enterprise reports that the resident has been reported to be a former girlfriend. After a criminal investigation into the CJIS queries, the department filed a criminal complaint on 17 July seeking charges and referred the matter to the Middlesex District Attorney, sent its report to the state Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, and ended its relationship with Flock Safety, removing its last camera in early August. The officer, on unpaid leave from 31 July, later resigned amid termination proceedings. No charging decision has been reported.

Medium Flock Safety license plate readers

Costa Mesa, California: a former police officer pleaded guilty in April 2026 to unauthorized computer access and two other misdemeanors after prosecutors said the officer used the department's Flock license-plate readers to locate and follow a romantic partner and her romantic interests and, while on leave in June 2024, to find a new boyfriend's address

The Orange County District Attorney said on 14 April 2026 that a former Costa Mesa police officer had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unauthorized computer access and fraud, annoying and repeated phone calls, and contempt of court. According to prosecutors, the officer made 13 non-work CLETS records inquiries in June to December 2023 on a woman with whom the officer had a relationship, someone she dated and the officer's wife, and used the department's Flock license plate reader system to locate the vehicles of the woman and her romantic interests in order to follow them. While on leave in June 2024, the officer used the Flock system again to find the address of her new boyfriend in Torrance. After she ended the relationship in April 2024, prosecutors say, the officer contacted her thousands of times, threatened to reveal explicit photos and drove by her home in breach of a restraining order. The sentence was three years of informal probation and a 52-week domestic violence programme. The city later voted to keep its Flock contract while renegotiating terms.

Medium Flock Safety license plate readers

Kechi, Kansas: a police lieutenant used the Wichita Police Department's Flock license-plate-reader system to monitor his estranged wife's location; arrested in October 2022, he pleaded guilty to computer crime and stalking in April 2023

According to the Sedgwick County District Attorney, a lieutenant of the Kechi Police Department in Kansas took advantage of his position to use the Flock License Plate Reader system to monitor his estranged wife's location. The woman had told a friend that she was scared and thought he was somehow tracking her whereabouts, and the friend asked a Wichita police officer how someone could get a protection-from-stalking order. Wichita police arrested the lieutenant on 26 October 2022 and he was removed from the Kechi department. On 5 April 2023 he pleaded guilty to computer crime and stalking, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced to a controlling term of 24 months in jail, with probation granted for 18 months. The Wichita Police Department, whose Flock system he had used, revoked the whole Kechi department's access and said it would audit the system weekly, and the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers' Standards revoked his certification in August 2023.

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