{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-04T08:59:49.969Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"tcpalm-usa-today-investigation","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2025","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":"2025-pinellas-county-florida-deputy-alpr-flock-300-plate-searches-woman-he-wanted-to-date-arrest","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'queried the agency’s automatic license plate reader database some 300 times to track the car of a woman he wanted to date'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'used license plate readers, including Flock, to track'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'license plate 300 times using automated license plate reader cameras, including those made by Flock'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'artificial intelligence helps categorize vehicles based on make, model, color and license plate'","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The sheriff said an audit showed the deputy had searched the woman's license plate 300 times in the sheriff's office's automated license-plate-reader system, which includes Flock cameras, to track the car of a woman he wanted to date.","causal_attribution":"The sheriff's account of the agency audit, reported by three outlets from the same news conference; not independent support. The deputy is charged, not convicted."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'queried the woman 381 times across five law enforcement databases between January 2025 and July 2026'; 'Of the 381 searches, 207 were conducted while'; 'The woman was not under investigation, and investigators found no legitimate law enforcement reason for the searches.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'queried the woman’s information 81 times in other databases'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'searched her plate 300 times between January 2025 and July 2026'","relation":"context","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"Investigators found that the deputy queried the woman 381 times across five law enforcement databases between January 2025 and July 2026, 300 of them license-plate-reader searches and 81 in other databases, and that 207 of the 381 queries were made off duty; the woman was not under investigation and investigators found no legitimate law enforcement reason for the searches.","causal_attribution":"The sheriff's account. TCPalm attributes the 207 off-duty searches to the 300 plate searches, while the Tampa Bay Times and WFTS count them among all 381 queries; the record follows the latter and notes the discrepancy."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'for the plate of a 35-year-old woman he’d arrested in 2010'; 'admitted he wanted a relationship with the woman but that she had rebuffed his advances'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'He bought her jewelry and even put her and her mother up at a place in Indian Rocks Beach'; 'But she wanted to remain friends.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"The deputy had arrested the woman in 2010; according to the sheriff he later wanted a relationship with her, and when questioned he admitted that she had rebuffed his advances. TCPalm reports that he bought her jewelry and put her and her mother up at a place in Indian Rocks Beach, but that she wanted to remain friends.","causal_attribution":"The sheriff's account of the deputy's admission and of the investigation; the woman's own account is not reported."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'start investigating until TCPalm asked Aug. 20 about abnormal Flock Safety searches by its personnel'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'about a large number of searches in the agency’s license plate readers database'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The audits were there, but we were not focusing on high quantity'; 'did not enter a case number for his searches'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The internal investigation began after a media inquiry: TCPalm reports that it asked the sheriff's office on 20 August 2026 about abnormal Flock Safety searches by its personnel, and the sheriff said the searches appeared in the office's audit logs but its audits were not focusing on high quantities of searches.","causal_attribution":"TCPalm's account of its own inquiry and the sheriff's statements."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'He faces four counts of unlawfully accessing a computer system and one count of official misconduct.'; 'Records show he was released after posting bond totaling $25,000.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'charged with four counts of unlawfully accessing a computer system and one count of official misconduct'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"The deputy resigned on 11 September 2026 after supervisors questioned him; he was arrested on 30 September 2026, charged with four counts of unlawfully accessing a computer system and one count of official misconduct, and released after posting bond totaling $25,000.","causal_attribution":"The sheriff's announcement and court records as reported by the Tampa Bay Times; no court record was inspected."}],"effects":[{"label":"her car's license plate searched 300 times in the sheriff's office license-plate-reader system by a deputy who wanted to date her","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"queried 81 more times in other law enforcement databases without a law enforcement reason","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2026/09/30/pinellas-deputy-arrests-flock-license-plate-cameras-gualtieri/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; byline Tony Marrero; 30 September 2026). The visible page is a teaser; the full article text was read from the page's embedded article body. Rests on the sheriff's news conference and court records.","independence_group":"pcso-news-conference-2026-09-30"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/2026/09/30/two-pinellas-county-sheriffs-deputies-arrested-for-flock-alpr-misuse-florida-license-plate-readers/92020401007/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-04 from the eu.tcpalm.com edition of the same article (the www and USA TODAY hosts answered 402). Byline Jack Lemnus. Its account of the deputy's searches rests on the sheriff's news conference; its own reporting covers the 20 August inquiry that prompted the audit.","independence_group":"pcso-news-conference-2026-09-30"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.tampabay28.com/news/region-pinellas/pinellas-sheriff-acknowledges-gaps-in-flock-style-camera-oversight-after-deputys-arrest","kind":"local_tv_news","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-04 (live; WFTS Tampa Bay 28, Chad Mills; 30 September 2026). Rests on the sheriff's news conference; adds the station's own reading of the office's written license-plate-reader policy.","independence_group":"pcso-news-conference-2026-09-30"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["institutional_use"],"contexts":["privacy","justice","relationships"],"unknowns":["Whether the woman knew of the searches or has described any effect on her.","Which vendor's cameras returned the plate reads.","Whether the 207 off-duty queries were license-plate-reader searches (TCPalm) or a share of all 381 queries (Tampa Bay Times; WFTS).","The prosecutor's charging decision and any court outcome."],"geography":{"basis":"The deputy served with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in Florida, which searched its license-plate-reader system and arrested him (Tampa Bay Times; WFTS). The woman's residence is not stated; affected_person_countries US rests on her car being searched in the Florida sheriff's office's license-plate-reader system and on the 2010 arrest by the same deputy. The charges were brought in Florida.","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, consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows: the Pinellas County Sheriff says an audit showed a deputy searched a woman's license plate 300 times in the agency's license-plate-reader system, including Flock cameras, because he wanted to date her, and he has been arrested and charged. The automated readers generated the plate-read records; the misuse is recorded as a human act. Neither the deputy nor the woman is named here.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-04"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The sheriff, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times, TCPalm and WFTS, says an audit of the office's automated license-plate-reader system showed 300 searches of the woman's plate; TCPalm and WFTS report that the readers searched included Flock cameras. The Tampa Bay Times describes such cameras as photographing passing cars, with artificial intelligence helping to categorize vehicles by make, model, color and plate. The plate-read records about the woman's car were the system's output; the searches are recorded as the deputy's own acts. The 81 queries in other databases (FCIC, driver's license and records systems) are not treated as AI.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Pinellas County, Florida: a sheriff's deputy is accused of searching a woman's license plate 300 times in the agency's license-plate-reader system, including Flock cameras, because he wanted to date her; arrested and charged in September 2026","summary":"According to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, an audit showed that a deputy had searched a 35-year-old woman's license plate 300 times through the sheriff's office's automated license-plate-reader system, which includes Flock cameras, between January 2025 and July 2026. Investigators found 81 further queries about her in other law enforcement databases. The sheriff said the deputy had arrested the woman in 2010 and later wanted a relationship with her, and that when questioned he admitted making the searches for that reason; she had declined his advances. The woman was not under investigation. The sheriff said the searches came to light through a media inquiry, and TCPalm reports that it had asked the office on 20 August about abnormal Flock searches by its personnel. The deputy resigned on 11 September and was arrested on 30 September 2026 on four counts of unlawfully accessing a computer system and one count of official misconduct.","incidentDate":"2025-01-01","incidentEndDate":"2026-07-01","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"month","exposurePattern":"unknown","reportedDate":"2026-09-30","aiSystem":"Automated license-plate-reader systems searched by Pinellas County Sheriff's Office personnel, including Flock Safety cameras (TCPalm; WFTS); the office's written policy names LPR systems operated by Flock Safety, Axon and Motorola (WFTS)","aiProduct":"Flock Safety license plate readers","aiCompany":"Flock Safety","severity":"medium","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["exploitation_or_abuse"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"According to the Pinellas County Sheriff, a deputy who wanted to date the woman searched her car's license plate 300 times in the agency's license-plate-reader system, including Flock cameras, and queried her 81 more times in other databases, with no law enforcement reason; she had declined his advances. He is charged with unlawfully accessing a computer system and official misconduct.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the 35-year-old woman whose plate the deputy searched (sheriff, via Tampa Bay Times, TCPalm and WFTS). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-FL","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"criminal_charges","outcomeStatus":"pending","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2026/09/30/pinellas-deputy-arrests-flock-license-plate-cameras-gualtieri/","primarySourceLabel":"Tampa Bay Times, 30 September 2026: 2 Pinellas deputies arrested for tracking people they were interested in, sheriff says","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-04T03:29:59.229637+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-04T03:29:59.229637+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["flock","alpr","license-plate-reader","police-misuse","unwanted-romantic-pursuit","florida","pinellas-county","tcpalm-usa-today-investigation","audit","made-claim-about"]}]}