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Low reported severity Internal Action

Cheektowaga, New York: three police department dispatchers searched a fellow employee's license plate in the Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months without that employee's knowledge; suspended in September 2026

According to Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Coons, an internal audit found that three public safety dispatchers of the Cheektowaga Police Department in New York had searched for a department employee's license plate in the department's Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months, and the employee was not aware of the searches. The department said the behavior stopped and an investigation followed to determine the scope of the policy violation and whether the public was targeted. On 30 September 2026 the chief announced that the three, one of whom has since become a police officer, had been suspended for multiple policy violations. The Erie County District Attorney's Office was consulted; no criminal charge has been reported, and WKBW reported that further disciplinary sanctions had not yet been filed.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
30 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
Work · Privacy · Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 4 sources, 2 underlying accounts
5 claims: 5 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader (ALPR) system of the Cheektowaga Police Department, New York, with almost 30 cameras in the town, searched by department dispatchers (Cheektowaga police statement, as reported by WGRZ, Spectrum News and WKBW)

What Happened

WGRZ reported on 30 September 2026 that Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Coons said an investigation into three of the department's dispatchers began after it was found that they had searched for a department employee's license plate on the department's Flock ALPR system over a period of months, and that the employee was not aware this was taking place. Spectrum News, quoting a department press release, reports that an internal audit showed the three public safety dispatchers used the system to search for another employee's license plate for months, and that the behavior stopped and an investigation followed to determine the scope of the policy violation and whether the public was targeted. The three were issued suspensions for multiple policy violations. WKBW's I-Team reported that one of the three is now a police officer who was a dispatcher at the time, and that, according to its sources, police were close to filing disciplinary sanctions that had not yet been filed. The chief said the department consulted the Erie County District Attorney's Office (WGRZ, 1 October 2026). Cheektowaga has almost 30 Flock cameras in the town (WKBW). The sources do not say when the searches took place, how many there were, why the employee was searched, or how the employee was affected.

Reported harm

According to the Cheektowaga police chief and department, three police dispatchers searched a fellow employee's license plate in the department's Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months without that employee's knowledge; the three were suspended for policy violations.

Outcome

Ongoing

On 30 September 2026 Chief Brian Coons announced that the three dispatchers had been suspended for multiple policy violations (WGRZ, Spectrum News). The department said it had tightened policies and procedures around the system and that the Erie County District Attorney's Office had been consulted. WKBW reported, citing sources, that disciplinary sanctions against the three were close to being filed but had not yet been filed. No criminal charge has been reported.

What remains unknown

  • When the searches took place and how many there were.
  • Why the dispatchers searched the employee's plate and what the searches returned.
  • How the employee learned of the searches and whether they experienced further consequences.
  • The length of the suspensions and the final disciplinary sanctions.
  • Whether the district attorney will bring any charge.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The Cheektowaga police chief and the department's press release state that an internal audit found three dispatchers had searched a department employee's license plate on the department's Flock ALPR system over a period of months (WGRZ, Spectrum News). The automated readers record license plates at locations around the town (WKBW); the records retrieved about the employee's vehicle are the system's output, and the searches and their purpose are recorded as the dispatchers' own acts. The sources do not describe the readers as AI.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported Three public safety dispatchers of the Cheektowaga Police Department searched for a department employee's license plate in the department's Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months, and the employee was not aware the searches were taking place; an internal audit found the searches.

Causal attribution. The account comes from the chief and the department's press release; every outlet relays that one origin, so it stays reported. The searches are the department's own audit finding.

  • yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'searched for a department employee'; 'license plate on their Flock ALPR system over'; 'That employee was not aware that this was taking place, according to Coons.'
  • spectrumlocalnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'an internal audit showed three public safety dispatchers used the system to search for another employee'
  • yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'misusing the Flock cameras in the automated license plate reader system to track without'; 'the movements of a fellow employee'; 'over a period of months'
  • wkbw.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'have suspended three of their own after a months-long investigation into misuse of Flock cameras to track a fellow employee'
Reported The department said the behavior stopped and that an investigation followed to determine the scope of the policy violation and whether the public was targeted.

Causal attribution. The department's press release as quoted by Spectrum News.

  • spectrumlocalnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The behavior stopped, and an intensive investigation followed to determine the scope of the policy violation and whether the public was targeted.'
Reported The three were suspended for multiple policy violations; one of them, a dispatcher at the time of the searches, is now a police officer.

Causal attribution. Suspensions from the department's statement; the current role of one of the three from WKBW's own reporting.

  • yahoo.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The three dispatchers were issued suspensions for multiple unnamed policy violations.'
  • wkbw.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'punishment for multiple policy violations'; 'was a dispatcher at the time of the alleged misuse of these Flock cameras'
Reported The Erie County District Attorney's Office was consulted; WKBW reported, citing sources, that disciplinary sanctions against the three were close to being filed but had not yet been filed.

Causal attribution. DA consultation from the department; pending sanctions from WKBW's unnamed sources.

Reported The department said it had taken steps to tighten policies and procedures around the system.

Causal attribution. The department's statement.

Sources

4 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 from Yahoo News's syndicated copy of WGRZ's 30 September 2026 article (Ian Caskie); the wgrz.com original answered 403 from this host. Reports Chief Coons's statements. Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; Spectrum News Staff, 1 October 2026). Quotes the department's press release. Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; Ed Drantch, WKBW 7 News I-Team, 30 September 2026). Quotes the department's statement and adds details from unnamed sources, including the pending sanctions and the current role of one of the three. Applies to s3.

Read in English on 2026-10-04 from Yahoo News's syndicated copy of WGRZ's 1 October 2026 follow-up (Ron Plants); the wgrz.com original answered 403. Restates the case from the chief's announcement and reports the consultation with the district attorney. Applies to s4.

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

The dispatchers worked for the Cheektowaga Police Department in Erie County, New York, and searched its Flock system, which covers the town (WGRZ, WKBW). The searched person is a department employee; their residence is not stated, and affected_person_countries US rests on their employment with the New York department. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-04: Published as a contextual case (made_claim_about) consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows, including the Pasadena, Texas, fellow-officer case: the Cheektowaga police chief and department say an internal audit found three dispatchers had searched a fellow employee's license plate in the Flock system over a period of months without that employee's knowledge, and the three were suspended. No criminal charge is reported. The three staff members are not named here, and no source identifies the searched employee.

People described

An employee of the Cheektowaga Police Department, New York, whose vehicle's license plate was searched (not identified in any source)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the department employee whose license plate the three dispatchers searched (WGRZ, Spectrum News, WKBW). Exact 1. The department said its investigation examined whether the public was targeted; no source reports its finding or any other person searched.

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#new-york#cheektowaga#erie-county#internal-discipline#workplace

Cite this case

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

APA

NOPE. (2026). Cheektowaga, New York: three police department dispatchers searched a fellow employee's license plate in the Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months without that employee's knowledge; suspended in September 2026. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-cheektowaga-new-york-police-dispatchers-flock-alpr-searched-fellow-employee-plate-suspended

BibTeX

@misc{2026_cheektowaga_new_york_police_dispatchers_flock_alpr_searched_fellow_employee_plate_suspended,
  title = {Cheektowaga, New York: three police department dispatchers searched a fellow employee's license plate in the Flock license-plate-reader system over a period of months without that employee's knowledge; suspended in September 2026},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-cheektowaga-new-york-police-dispatchers-flock-alpr-searched-fellow-employee-plate-suspended}
}

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