{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-03T07:53:59.827Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"orange-county","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"2023","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"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":"2023-costa-mesa-former-officer-flock-alpr-tracked-partner-and-rivals-guilty-plea","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'using the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) database to make 13 inquiries on people and vehicles not related to his job, including his mistress, someone she dated, and his own wife'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'to gather information on people and vehicles not related to his job, including his mistress, someone she dated, and his wife in 2023'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to prosecutors, between June and December 2023 the Costa Mesa police officer made 13 inquiries in the California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) records database on people and vehicles unrelated to the job, including the woman with whom the officer had a relationship, someone she dated and the officer's own wife.","causal_attribution":"Prosecutors' allegation as stated in the district attorney's release. CLETS is a records database and is not the AI system in this case."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'accessing the police department’s FLOCK license plate reader system in order to locate his mistress’ vehicle and the vehicle of the woman’s romantic interests in order to follow them to their locations'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'He is also accused of using FLOCK license plate readers to track his mistress and her romantic interests'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'accessing information from Flock cameras and using it to locate his mistress’ vehicle and the vehicles of her romantic interests in order to follow them to their locations'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to prosecutors, the officer accessed the police department's Flock license plate reader system to locate the woman's vehicle and the vehicle of her romantic interests in order to follow them to their locations.","causal_attribution":"Prosecutors' allegation. The automated readers generated the vehicle-location records; the searches and the following were the officer's acts."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'placed on leave from the Costa Mesa Police Department in December 2023, he continued to illegally access the police department’s FLOCK license plate reader system in June 2024 in order to find out the address of his mistress’ new boyfriend in Torrance'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'used the cameras to find his mistress’ new boyfriend’s address in June 2024'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'used the information to find the address of his mistress’ new boyfriend in Torrance'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to prosecutors, after being placed on leave in December 2023, the officer again accessed the department's Flock license plate reader system in June 2024 to find the address of the woman's new boyfriend in Torrance.","causal_attribution":"Prosecutors' allegation; Voice of OC's relay says the 2024 access came after the officer lost the job, where the release says the officer was on leave."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Beginning in April 2024, after his mistress called off their relationship'; 'repeatedly calling, texting, and sending social media messages to his mistress, threatening to reveal explicit photos of her'; 'calling her and her new boyfriend repeatedly, as many as 58 times in a single day, and repeatedly driving by her home'; 'sometimes more than 100 times in a day, over nine months'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'allegedly threatened to post explicit photos of her and demanded to know if she was seeing anyone else'; 'called her and her new boyfriend relentlessly, as many as 58 times in one day, according to prosecutors'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"According to prosecutors, after the woman ended the relationship in April 2024 the officer contacted her thousands of times by text, phone and social media, sometimes more than 100 times in a day, threatened to reveal explicit photos of her, called her and her new boyfriend as many as 58 times in a single day and repeatedly drove by her home.","causal_attribution":"Prosecutors' allegation; this conduct did not involve the AI system."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'was served with an emergency protective order and given notice of intent to terminate from the Costa Mesa Police Department'; 'drove by his mistress’ home in violation of the restraining order and was arrested'; 'he spent nine months wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'was fired by the Costa Mesa Police Department on June 28, 2024'","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"On 28 June 2024 the officer was served with an emergency protective order and notice of intent to terminate; after leaving the department the officer drove by the woman's home in violation of the restraining order, was arrested and then wore a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor for nine months.","causal_attribution":"District attorney's account. CBS describes 28 June 2024 as the firing date; the release describes a notice of intent to terminate."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of unauthorized computer access and fraud, one misdemeanor count of annoying and repeated phone calls, and one misdemeanor count of contempt of court for violating a restraining order'; 'ordered to complete a 52-week domestic violence program and was sentenced to three years informal probation'; 'his certification review is pending'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors, including unauthorized computer access and fraud; annoying and repeated phone calls; and contempt of court for violating the restraining order'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'pleaded guilty in April to three misdemeanors, including unauthorized computer access and fraud related to illegally accessing the police department’s license plate reader system'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The former officer pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count each of unauthorized computer access and fraud, annoying and repeated phone calls, and contempt of court for violating a restraining order, and was sentenced to three years of informal probation and a 52-week domestic violence programme; the case was reported to California's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, whose certification review is pending.","causal_attribution":"The prosecutor's release; the court record was not inspected. CBS reports formal probation. The release does not say which system the computer-access count covers; Voice of OC relates it to the plate-reader system."},{"id":"c7","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Costa Mesa City Council members voted 6-1 to keep the city’s contract with Flock'; 'who operates the 46 automated license plate reader cameras in town'; 'Much of the community pushback over Flock cameras stems from a stalking scandal involving an officer from the Costa Mesa Police Department'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Costa Mesa City Council voted 6-1 on 21 July 2026 to keep the city's contract with Flock, which operates 46 license plate reader cameras in the city, while directing staff to renegotiate its terms; Voice of OC reports that much of the community pushback stemmed from this case.","causal_attribution":"Voice of OC's own reporting of the council meeting held on the Tuesday before its 22 July 2026 article."}],"effects":[{"label":"a woman's vehicle and those of her romantic interests were located through a police license-plate-reader system so that an officer could follow them (prosecutors' account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"a new boyfriend's address in Torrance was found through the plate-reader system by the officer while on leave (prosecutors' account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the woman, someone she dated and the officer's wife were looked up in a law-enforcement records database without a work purpose (prosecutors' account)","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the woman was contacted thousands of times and threatened with the release of explicit photos, and she and her new boyfriend were called up to 58 times in one day (prosecutors' account)","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://ocdistrictattorney.gov/press/former-orange-county-sheriffs-deputy-charged-with-possession-of-child-pornography-illegally-accessing-confidential-law-enforcement-database-to-look-up-romantic-rival-ex-girlfriend-and-vio-2/","kind":"press_release","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-03 (Orange County District Attorney press release dated 14 April 2026, case 25WF2494; datePublished 2026-04-14T23:45Z). The page's URL slug, which is also its canonical URL, belongs to an older unrelated release; the title, heading and body are the Costa Mesa release. The full-release PDF linked from the page has the same text. Even after the plea, the release describes the database, plate-reader and harassment details as what the former officer 'is accused of'.","independence_group":"ocda-25wf2494-release"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/ex-costa-mesa-police-officer-accused-of-using-flock-cameras-to-track-his-mistress/","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-03 from the Internet Archive capture of 18 July 2026 (the live site returned HTTP 406). CBS News Los Angeles, 14 April 2026, updated 10:27 PM PDT. Relays the district attorney's release with no independent reporting. It differs from the release on two details: it says 'formal' probation where the release says informal, and that the officer was fired on 28 June 2024 where the release says notice of intent to terminate was given that day.","independence_group":"ocda-25wf2494-release"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://voiceofoc.org/2026/07/costa-mesa-keeps-controversial-flock-cameras-looks-to-clean-up-contract-next-year/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-03 from the Internet Archive capture of 4 September 2026 (the live site returned HTTP 429). Voice of OC, 22 July 2026. Its account of the case is attributed to the district attorney's office and is grouped with the release; its report of the city council vote is its own reporting. It describes the computer-access count as related to the plate-reader system, which the release does not specify, and says the 2024 access came after the officer lost the job, where the release says the officer was on leave.","independence_group":"ocda-25wf2494-release"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice","relationships"],"unknowns":["The dates and number of the 2023 Flock searches; the release places the CLETS inquiries in June to December 2023 and says the Flock access continued in June 2024 after the December 2023 leave.","Whether 'someone she dated' (CLETS, 2023), the 'romantic interests' located through Flock and the 2024 'new boyfriend' are the same or different people.","Which system the computer-access count covers: the release does not say; Voice of OC relates it to the plate-reader system.","Whether probation is formal or informal (the release says informal, CBS says formal), the plea date and the court; the court record was not inspected.","The date of the restraining-order violation and arrest (after 28 June 2024) and the period of the 'nine months' of contact.","The outcome of the POST certification review.","Any statement by the people tracked about the effect on them; none is reported in the inspected sources."],"geography":{"basis":"The department's plate-reader system is in Costa Mesa, California, and the new boyfriend's address that was looked up is in Torrance, California (district attorney's release); the case was prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney (case 25WF2494). The woman's and the wife's places of residence are not stated beyond the release's references to the woman's home.","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional privacy and safety case: a police officer used the department's automated license-plate-reader records to locate and follow a romantic partner and her romantic interests and later to find a new boyfriend's address, according to the district attorney, and pleaded guilty to misdemeanors including unauthorized computer access. One reporting chain (the prosecutor's release and two relays) plus Voice of OC's council reporting. The officer is named in the release but not here; the people tracked are not named in any source. The AI component generated the location records and the misuse is recorded as a human act.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-03"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The Orange County District Attorney's release says the officer is accused of accessing the Costa Mesa Police Department's Flock license plate reader system to locate the woman's vehicle and the vehicles of her romantic interests in order to follow them, and of accessing it in June 2024 to find a new boyfriend's address; the former officer pleaded guilty to unauthorized computer access and fraud among other counts. The automated readers generated the vehicle-location records about these people; the searches and the stalking were human acts. The CLETS lookups and the calls and messages did not involve an AI system. The release frames the Flock access as an accusation; the plea does not specify which system the computer-access count covers.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"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","summary":"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.","incidentDate":"2023-06-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-04-14","aiSystem":"Flock Safety automated license plate reader system used by the Costa Mesa Police Department, whose vehicle-location records the officer searched; the CLETS records database the officer also misused is not an AI system","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Orange County District Attorney, a police officer used the department's Flock plate-reader records to locate and follow a woman and her romantic interests and to find a new boyfriend's address, looked up the woman, someone she dated and the officer's wife in a law-enforcement records database, and harassed the woman and her new boyfriend with thousands of calls and messages and a threat to reveal explicit photos; the former officer pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":3,"affectedCountStatus":"documented_minimum","affectedCountEvidence":"District attorney's release: the woman; at least one of her romantic partners (the new boyfriend in Torrance, whose address was found through Flock and who was called repeatedly); and the officer's wife (looked up through CLETS). Documented minimum 3. Through the Flock system specifically, the release supports at least 2 (the woman and at least one romantic interest). 'Someone she dated', the 'romantic interests' and the 'new boyfriend' may be the same or different people, so they are counted once.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-CA","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"resolved","primarySourceUrl":"https://ocdistrictattorney.gov/press/former-orange-county-sheriffs-deputy-charged-with-possession-of-child-pornography-illegally-accessing-confidential-law-enforcement-database-to-look-up-romantic-rival-ex-girlfriend-and-vio-2/","primarySourceLabel":"Orange County District Attorney press release, 14 April 2026 (case 25WF2494)","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-03T03:24:32.612051+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-03T03:24:32.612051+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","police","stalking","harassment","privacy","costa-mesa","orange-county","california","guilty-plea","institutional-use","made-claim-about"]}]}