A Kingsville police officer has resigned following accusations of misusing automated license plate reader camera systems.
An investigation by the Kingsville Police Department unearthed thousands of personal searches by Officer Gabriel Garcia that violated department policy, which states that automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are for official law enforcement needs only, not for unauthorized use.
On July 31, the department confronted Garcia about his 5,300 alleged personal searches. He resigned the same day according to newly released records.
Audit logs researched by KRIS 6 News found that Garcia searched one license plate 609 times, another 394 times, and a third 187 times on Axon ALPR, a separate platform from Flock. On Flock, he conducted 5,283 searches compared to the 3,477 total searches of 26 others in the department.
According to records obtained by The Hawk’s Eye, Garcia conducted 4,176 of his searches under “city planning/traffic analysis” and similar labels. He repeatedly searched four license plates from June 21 to July 25.
The Hawk’s Eye noted that the repeated searches were of city officials in nearby Bishop.
An investigating police captain observed that Garcia had no criminal cases involving the officials.
Further, she alleged that Garcia was either friends with or in a relationship with one official and knew that both officials were in a relationship. She concluded that the searches were for Garcia’s personal information.
The investigation ended August 28. The misconduct report filed with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement records an indefinite suspension as disciplinary action.
The investigation comes amid local, state, and national backlash towards misuse of automated license plate readers.
Flock’s automated license plate readers use AI to scan license plates and save information about a vehicle, such as make, model, color, and other identifiers like cosmetic damage or bumper stickers.
Flock allows law enforcement officers to access its database without a requiring warrant. This has raised concerns over potential violations of citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights.
Gov. Greg Abbott paused state funding for Flock cameras in August.
“We’re ensuring that whether it be through criminal crackdowns, whether it be through cancellation of contracts, whatever the case may be, Flock cameras are being reduced dramatically and they’re going to be required to be used responsibly if they’re used at all,” he said.
