{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-04T09:46:28.517Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"cheektowaga","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-cheektowaga-new-york-police-dispatchers-flock-alpr-searched-fellow-employee-plate-suspended","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'an internal audit showed three public safety dispatchers used the system to search for another employee'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'have suspended three of their own after a months-long investigation into misuse of Flock cameras to track a fellow employee'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The behavior stopped, and an intensive investigation followed to determine the scope of the policy violation and whether the public was targeted.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'The three dispatchers were issued suspensions for multiple unnamed policy violations.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'punishment for multiple policy violations'; 'was a dispatcher at the time of the alleged misuse of these Flock cameras'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'the District Attorney’s Office was consulted during the process'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'they have consulted with the Erie County District Attorney'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"},{"locator":"'police are close to filing disciplinary sanctions against the three employees'; 'Those sanctions have not yet been filed.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'We have taken steps to tighten policies and procedures to help prevent future incidents.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'has taken steps to tighten policies and procedures around the system'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The department said it had taken steps to tighten policies and procedures around the system.","causal_attribution":"The department's statement."}],"effects":[{"label":"vehicle's license plate searched by three police dispatchers in the department's license-plate-reader system over a period of months, without the employee's knowledge","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/3-cheektowaga-police-dispatchers-suspended-195451268.html","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"cheektowaga-pd-statement"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/news/2026/10/01/3-cheektowaga-police-dispatchers-suspended-for-flock-camera-misuse","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; Spectrum News Staff, 1 October 2026). Quotes the department's press release.","independence_group":"cheektowaga-pd-statement"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.wkbw.com/news/i-team/cheektowaga-police-officer-dispatchers-accused-of-misusing-flock-cameras-to-track-fellow-employee","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"wkbw-i-team-sources"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/law-enforcement-executives-discuss-flock-232611317.html","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"cheektowaga-pd-statement"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["work","privacy","justice"],"unknowns":["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."],"geography":{"basis":"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.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"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.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"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.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"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","summary":"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.","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-30","aiSystem":"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)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"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.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"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.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-NY","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"internal_action","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/3-cheektowaga-police-dispatchers-suspended-195451268.html","primarySourceLabel":"WGRZ via Yahoo News, 30 September 2026: 3 Cheektowaga police dispatchers suspended for misuse of Flock cameras","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:30:10.316607+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:30:10.316607+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","police-misuse","new-york","cheektowaga","erie-county","internal-discipline","workplace","made-claim-about"]}]}