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Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Fort Pierce, Florida: a former police officer is arrested after investigators say he searched his ex-girlfriend's license plate 382 times on the department's Flock license-plate-reader system without a law enforcement purpose

According to Fort Pierce Police Chief David Smith, a former officer of the Fort Pierce Police Department used the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader database 382 times between October 2025 and July 2026 to search the same license plate, mostly while off duty and without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and investigators determined the vehicle was registered to his ex-girlfriend. The chief said records from other law enforcement databases showed the officer's access involving the woman stretched back to 2023. The department opened its investigation after a TCPalm reporter asked on 7 August 2026 about the searches; the officer was placed on leave that day and resigned on 18 August. TCPalm reports that the woman filed for a restraining order on 14 August, accusing him of stalking and cyberstalking. He was arrested on 8 September 2026 on four felony counts related to unauthorized computer access and held on an $80,000 bond. The charges are allegations.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
Oct 2025 to Jul 2026
Reported
8 September 2026
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 reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 2 underlying accounts
5 claims: 5 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader database of the Fort Pierce Police Department, which the officer searched through his police access (Fort Pierce police chief, as reported by CBS12, WPTV and TCPalm)

What Happened

At a news conference on 8 September 2026, Fort Pierce Police Chief David Smith said that between October 2025 and July 2026 a former officer of the department allegedly used the Flock database 382 times to search the same vehicle license plate, using different reason categories and without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and that most of the searches were made while he was off duty. Investigators determined the vehicle was registered to the officer's ex-girlfriend. The chief said records from other law enforcement databases showed the officer's access involving the woman stretched back to 2023, although the Flock searches began in October 2025, and that the woman had been notified and is part of the case; asked whether the officer appeared to be tracking her, he said he would not speculate about intentions but that one could infer he was tracking an ex-girlfriend (WPTV). Investigators also found searches of FCIC/NCIC, DAVID and TLO without a legitimate purpose; those databases are not treated as AI here. The investigation began after the media contacted the department on 7 August: TCPalm reports that its reporter inquired about the officer's searches that day as part of a TCPalm-USA TODAY analysis of Flock audit logs, and that its own reading of the logs found 382 searches of the woman's plate between February 2025 and June 2026, a period that differs from the police account. TCPalm also reports that it asked the woman about the searches on 3 August and that she filed for a restraining order on 14 August, accusing him of stalking and cyberstalking. The officer was placed on leave on 7 August, resigned on 18 August and was arrested on 8 September on four felony counts related to unauthorized computer access; he was held on an $80,000 secured bond. He had been suspended for two days in 2021 after an internal affairs investigation into inappropriate behavior toward female employees (CBS12). The department has tightened access to its Flock system and begun an audit of its law enforcement databases.

Reported harm

According to the Fort Pierce police chief, the woman's license plate was searched 382 times on the department's Flock license-plate-reader database by her ex-boyfriend, a police officer, mostly off duty and without a law enforcement purpose; TCPalm reports she sought a restraining order accusing him of stalking and cyberstalking. He is charged with unauthorized computer access.

Outcome

Pending

The officer was placed on administrative leave and lost system access on 7 August 2026, a criminal investigation began by 10 August in consultation with the State Attorney's Office, and he resigned on 18 August. He was arrested on 8 September 2026 on four felony counts related to unauthorized computer access and held at the St. Lucie County Jail on an $80,000 secured bond (CBS12; WPTV). TCPalm reports that the woman filed for a restraining order on 14 August 2026, accusing him of stalking and cyberstalking. The department restricted Flock access to lieutenants and above with deputy-chief approval and a case number, limited searches to forcible felony and missing or endangered person cases, and cut data retention from 30 to seven days (CBS12). No court outcome is reported.

What remains unknown

  • The period of the Flock searches (police: October 2025 to July 2026; TCPalm: February 2025 to June 2026).
  • Whether the restraining order was granted.
  • The woman's own account of the effect of the searches.
  • Any court outcome.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The Fort Pierce police chief, as reported by CBS12 and WPTV, says the officer used the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader database 382 times to search a vehicle registered to his ex-girlfriend, and TCPalm's analysis of Flock audit logs found the same count. CBS12 describes Flock cameras as license plate readers that help identify vehicles. The plate-read records about the woman's vehicle were the system's output; the searches are recorded as the officer's own acts. The FCIC/NCIC, DAVID and TLO searches are not treated as AI. The sources do not describe the readers as AI.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the Fort Pierce police chief, the former officer used the department's Flock database 382 times between October 2025 and July 2026 to search the same license plate, mostly while off duty and without a legitimate law enforcement purpose, and investigators determined the vehicle was registered to his ex-girlfriend.

Causal attribution. The police chief's account, relayed by two stations from the same news conference. TCPalm's own count matches (382) but gives a different period (February 2025 to June 2026); the record uses the police period and notes the difference.

  • cbs12.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'accessed the Flock database 382 times to search the same license plate'; 'Most of the searches were made while he was off duty. Investigators determined the vehicle was registered to an ex-girlfriend.'
  • wptv.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'used the Flock database 382 times to search the same vehicle license plate'; 'although the Flock searches began in October 2025'
  • tcpalm.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'searched his ex 382 times between February 2025 and this June'
Reported The chief said records from other law enforcement databases showed the officer's access involving the woman stretched back to 2023, that the woman had been notified and is part of the case, and that one could infer the officer was tracking an ex-girlfriend.

Causal attribution. The chief's statements at the news conference as reported by WPTV.

  • wptv.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'access involving the woman stretched back to 2023'; 'has been notified and is part of the case'; 'I think you can infer that he was tracking an ex-girlfriend.'
Reported TCPalm reports that it asked the woman about the searches on 3 August 2026 and that on 14 August she filed for a restraining order, accusing the officer of stalking and cyberstalking.

Causal attribution. TCPalm's account; the filing was not inspected.

Reported The investigation began after the media contacted the department on 7 August 2026 about possible misuse of its Flock system; the officer was placed on administrative leave that day, resigned on 18 August, and was arrested on 8 September 2026 on four felony counts related to unauthorized computer access, held on an $80,000 secured bond.

Causal attribution. The department's announcement; TCPalm confirms its own 7 August inquiry. No court record was inspected.

Reported After the arrest the department limited Flock access to lieutenants and above, required deputy-chief approval and a case number for each search, limited searches to forcible felony and missing or endangered person cases, and cut data retention from 30 days to seven days.

Causal attribution. The department's statements as reported by CBS12.

  • cbs12.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Only lieutenants and higher ranking officers can now use it'; 'The department also cut its data retention period from 30 days to seven days.'

Sources

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

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; CBS12/WPEC, 8 September 2026, updated 9 September). Rests on the Fort Pierce Police Department's announcement and the chief's news conference. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; WPTV, 8 September 2026). Reports the chief's news conference, including his answers to reporters. Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-10-04 from the eu.tcpalm.com edition of the same article (10 September 2026). Its own analysis of Flock audit logs, its inquiry to the department and to the woman, and the restraining-order filing; also relays the chief's news conference. Applies to s3.

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

The officer served with the Fort Pierce Police Department in St. Lucie County, Florida, whose Flock database he searched; he was arrested and held at the St. Lucie County Jail (CBS12; WPTV). The woman's residence is not stated; affected_person_countries US rests on her vehicle being searched in the Florida department's system and on her restraining-order petition (TCPalm). The case is in Florida.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-04: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional privacy and safety case, consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows: the Fort Pierce police chief says a former officer searched his ex-girlfriend's license plate 382 times on the department's Flock license-plate-reader database without a law enforcement purpose, he has been arrested, and TCPalm reports she sought a restraining order. The automated readers generated the plate-read records; the misuse is recorded as a human act. Neither the officer nor the woman is named here.

People described

A woman, the officer's ex-girlfriend (not named here)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the officer's ex-girlfriend, whose vehicle's plate was searched (Fort Pierce police chief via CBS12 and WPTV; TCPalm). The other people looked up in non-AI databases are not counted. Exact 1.

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#ex-partner#stalking#florida#fort-pierce#st-lucie-county#usa-today-investigation#restraining-order

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Fort Pierce, Florida: a former police officer is arrested after investigators say he searched his ex-girlfriend's license plate 382 times on the department's Flock license-plate-reader system without a law enforcement purpose. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-fort-pierce-florida-police-officer-flock-alpr-382-searches-ex-girlfriend-plate-arrest

BibTeX

@misc{2025_fort_pierce_florida_police_officer_flock_alpr_382_searches_ex_girlfriend_plate_arrest,
  title = {Fort Pierce, Florida: a former police officer is arrested after investigators say he searched his ex-girlfriend's license plate 382 times on the department's Flock license-plate-reader system without a law enforcement purpose},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-fort-pierce-florida-police-officer-flock-alpr-382-searches-ex-girlfriend-plate-arrest}
}

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