A San Jose police officer has been fired after being accused of accessing the department’s network of Flock license plate reading cameras for personal use, San Jose police Chief Paul Joseph said Friday. The controversial cameras have been under fire for months with many privacy groups saying th e risk of abuse outweighs the benefit of the cameras for crime fighting. “This is a betrayal of the public trust — plain and simple,” Joseph said. “There’s no other way to put it.” The Automated License Plate Readers, or ALPRs, are a big part of police operations, which makes the violation by the police officer significant and an embarrassment to the department. Redwood City Aug 27 Redwood City reportedly ending Flock Safety camera contract Palo Alto Aug 21 Palo Alto prepares to audit Flock camera system amid questions over data access Brentwood Aug 17 Brentwood orders removal of HOA license plate readers approved by mistake SJPD said the cameras have been important tools in fighting crime. Police recently used them to track down an exceptionally dangerous armed robbery suspect. Officers managed to track the suspect even after he switched license plates. Critics of the cameras have repeatedly raised red flags, saying they can and have been misused by officers for personal or illegal reasons. San Jose leaders have tried to reassure critics and created safeguards. But on Friday the chief acknowledged the officers in the investigation is accused of accessing Flock camera data on his personal phone to help a family member last spring. “The officer accessed license plate reader data and provided that to a suspect in a domestic violence situation, which enabled that suspect to locate a victim,” Joseph said. “When we learned about this, we immediately placed this officer on administrative leave. We launched a criminal investigation into his conduct. We referred that investigation to the district attorney‘s office and we ultimately terminated that police officer.” Joseph said since learning about the incident, he has made changes to the policy to ensure the data cannot be accessed on a personal device. “I was furious that an officer would betray the public trust in that manner,” Joseph said. “That he would not understand how serious of a violation this is.” Immigrants rights group Services, Immigrant Rights And Education Network, or SIREN, is not satisfied with the fallout and said the cameras amount to mass surveillance and should be turned off. “Mass surveillance is not public safety and these cameras are only creating new threats,” said Kimberly Woo, a SIREN community organizers. “It goes way beyond just one officer and one vendor and one company because overwhelming evidence has shown across the country local agencies and ALPR vendors have grossly mishandled and abused our data.” ...read more read less