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Threat Intelligence & APT The Record 1 month ago

Flock camera use by internal affairs unit puts DC police at odds with officers’ union

CN
CyberNew Threat Research Desk
• Original Reporting: The Record
CyberNew Threat Intel Assessment
Assessed Severity: INFORMATIONAL
Impacted Surface
Enterprise Perimeter & Network Defense
Intelligence Sector
Threat Intelligence & APT

Analyst Takeaway

"Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) car. Image: Brian James via Pexels Flock camera use by internal affairs unit puts DC police at odds with officers’ union Flock automated license plate recognition cameras are under fire from the Washington, D.C., police department’s union after it discovered Internal Affairs investigators used the controversial technology to track the..."

Recommended Defense & Mitigation

  • Threat Monitoring: Ingest published IOCs into SIEM/EDR detection rules for continuous telemetry monitoring.
  • Security Awareness: Alert staff and maintain baseline endpoint hardening across endpoints.
Curated & Verified by CyberNew Threat Intelligence Desk Standard Defense Framework (NIST / MITRE ATT&CK)
DC police cruiser
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) car. Image: Brian James via Pexels

Flock camera use by internal affairs unit puts DC police at odds with officers’ union

Flock automated license plate recognition cameras are under fire from the Washington, D.C., police department’s union after it discovered Internal Affairs investigators used the controversial technology to track the whereabouts of sworn officers without their knowledge.

There are no known prior cases of police departments deploying Flock ALPRs to monitor their own personnel, privacy advocates say.

Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) defended the practice, saying in a statement that its “position is that the use of LPR in the misconduct investigation was appropriate.”

Union officials learned in July that the department had been using Flock to track officers under investigation, according to a September 10 press release from DC Police Union President Gregg Pemberton.

Source Verification & Original Intelligence

This threat report was reviewed by CyberNew analysts and cross-referenced with primary security disclosures from The Record.

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