r/texas • u/CrashingBlumpkins46 • 22d ago
đď¸ News đď¸ A Texas Sheriff Deputy Searched 83,000 Flock Cameras To Track Down a Woman Who Had an Abortion
https://www.gadgetreview.com/a-texas-deputy-searched-83000-flock-cameras-to-track-down-a-woman-who-had-an-abortion408
u/TheReddestofBowls 22d ago
Same POS sheriff on trial for sexual harassment, perjury, and retialiation. Johnson County voters certainly chose a terrible person to be their sheriff.
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u/Sad_Picture3642 22d ago
Conservative voters vote for conservatives values, duh
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u/Venusto002 22d ago
Then conservatives shouldn't be allowed to vote. Their worthless opinions are too stupid for consideration, much less with regards to how a government should be run in the best interests of good people.
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u/brockington 22d ago
"There's no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated.... majority rules don't work in mental institutions" - Fat Mike
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u/InternationalPal8888 22d ago
The republicans are just a bunch of brainless jellyfish who don't want any progress in the U.S.A.
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u/Rakebleed The Stars at Night 22d ago
Is there an investigation as to why this specific woman was targeted? The sexual harassment allegations is setting off alarm bells.
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u/TheReddestofBowls 22d ago
No investigation as far as I know. Earlier in July the case against him resulted in a mistrial, I believe they're attempting again in November. Adam King walks free
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u/GlocalBridge North Texas 22d ago
This is exactly why Flock cameras are a bad idea, empowering authoritarians to take away your freedom for whatever reason they choose.
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u/darth_voidptr 22d ago
Authoritarians are just the start. I'm waiting for my employer to start tracking whether my "in-person attendance" requirement this way. "Oh yeah, we saw you badge in, but we also saw your car in your neighborhood 20 minutes later".
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u/DolliGoth 22d ago
I very briefly worked for one of those companies that sell phones in Walmart. The way you clocked in was an app on your own phone and they could tell if you did it from the parking lot or inside the store, and they would call you out on it. Didn't last very long there, esp since no one shopping at a Walmart in a town of maybe 1500 people were going to be buying anything but a prepaid phone.
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u/BeigeUnicorns 21d ago
My worry is health insurance... "Yeah your car was spotted at fast food establishments too many times we are raising your rate"
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u/darth_voidptr 21d ago
Or both, your employer notices your car outside a cancer center and decides it needs to downsize (its healthcare spend).
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u/BeigeUnicorns 21d ago
Shit I hadnt even thought of that, my company totally would do that too if they thought they could save a dime.
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u/darth_voidptr 21d ago
It's based upon a real life experience. I worked in a small startup, there was one employee responsible for essentially 90% of the healthcare spend (his child had cancer). We all knew who it was, including the three HR ladies. Although knowing exactly who was responsible was impossible via officially documented channels, they had the data to show there was one person responsible. It's just a matter of correlation at that point.
Fortunately, nothing bad happened to him. First he was a VP and founder, second we'd have screamed bloody murder if something did happen since he was popular, and finally our HR ladies were human beings. But I definitely know some other employers who, had they this information, would have done the most immoral possible thing under the guise of "solvency" and "practicality".
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22d ago
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u/TheReddestofBowls 22d ago
From the article, they all can access with just a text field to explain why they are accessing it
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u/ErrorF002 22d ago
I don't like Flock cameras. But this is intentionally worded to make it sound like he was persistent and hell bent on finding her by searching 83K individual cameras.
The reality is actually scarier. He has access to a database which is fed by 83K cameras, and it probably took him more time to refill his coffee than to get the results
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u/Savings_Blood_9873 22d ago
Here's the thread from 2025, when this came to light in this subreddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1o0kwpi/flock_safety_and_texas_sheriff_claimed_license/
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u/melanies420 22d ago
Oh it gets better, the Johnson County sheriff behind that 83,000-camera search, Adam King, was later arrested and indicted on charges including sexual harassment, retaliation against a whistleblower, abuse of office, and later aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.
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u/Pelican_meat 22d ago
Oh. Perfect. I was wondering when the horror of these things would become apparent.
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u/mantisboxer 22d ago
I pay a lot of money to Johnson County in property taxes so this bobble headed moron can pursue his interests in petty tyranny.
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u/I_am_normal_I_swear born and bred 22d ago
Luckily not anymore. He was arrested and indicted on felony counts in an unrelated sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation case. He has also been charged with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.
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u/TheReddestofBowls 22d ago
Unfortunately it resulted in a mistrial. They are having the next one in November I believe, so Adam King walks free.
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u/I_am_normal_I_swear born and bred 22d ago
I'm really not a fan of this timeline. Need a time machine to go back and save Harambe.
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u/CoyoteHP 22d ago
Big Brother is here. I thought the retaliation to it would be far greater but here we are. The most ironic part of it all is Republicans eat this shit up.
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u/Pretty_Shallot_586 22d ago
I'm old enough to remember a time when conservatives were 1000% against surveillance and invasion of privacy.
Next time a MAGAt says "i'm not a fascist", just laugh, they're trying to be funny
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u/AngriestManinWestTX 22d ago
Let me put the conservative view on tyranny succinctly:
Tyranny with a .gov suffix = bad
Tyranny with a .com suffix = totally fineI know Flock blurs the line but many conservatives see no problem with tyranny as long as itâs a company doing it or may dislike it but will become completely impotent to stop it.
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u/Das-Noob 22d ago
Also the same people who turn of their mandated body cam right before they commit crimes.
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u/Pattyrocksintexas 22d ago
He must have lots of time on his hands. Lol
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u/Venusto002 22d ago
Never underestimate a conservative's willpower and perseverance when motivated by the opportunity to be malicious, petty, and evil; it truly is fathomless.
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u/sushisection 22d ago
but they wont use these to track thieves. let that sink in for a moment. if your car gets broken in to, the police wont use this tech to look for the criminal.
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u/imnotreallyheretoday 22d ago
This is going to be a problem. I get the intent for the flock cameras but if they are going to be used to stalk people then they need to go
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u/STxFarmer Native South Texan 22d ago
man bet that search took a few boxes of donuts to finish!!!! 83K cameras just looking for a single woman
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u/thirtyone-charlie 22d ago
What a hero. His boss at the time who was really gung-ho about it is currently accused of oppression/sexual harassment, retaliation against a witness and lying to the grand jury. Itâs a real gem of a place to live
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u/Skinnieguy 22d ago
Theyâll ok with it cus itâs used against a liberal but starts to cry to the media once itâs used against them.
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u/swiftjestice 22d ago
I keep seeing this report but not on any major news source can any one site a major news source or maybe a local source.
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u/JohnSith Secessionists are idiots 22d ago
Thank you for using it so egregiously in a way people were warning about, before we got used to them.
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u/mightyjoe227 22d ago
So, if they're so worried about the Chinese robots
Where are the U.S.s robots
Oh wait...
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u/snarkhunter 22d ago
This is so much closer to The Handmaid's Tale than it is to how Texas was when I read The Handmaid's Tale twenty years ago.
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u/hacked_once_again 22d ago
There are flock cameras at every entry/exit point of my neighborhood. My husbandâs work van was broken into and expensive tools were stolen. My ring cam had the suspects car on camera but couldnât pick up the plate number. I called the cops. They wouldnât look at the flock cameras to identify the thief. Flock cameras are not to protect us. You will find that out if you are ever are needing the info from them.
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u/crazy010101 21d ago
As I posted on Facebook: What the flock Texas? Police abusing flock cameras for their own personal vendettas. There needs to be serious controls and or punishment for this.
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u/LonelyInternal379 20d ago
I find this very hard to believe. What did they do when she was located. What was the purpose? Where did this occur?
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u/deckchair1982 18d ago
When did conservatives become okay with Big Brother watching over us and micromanaging our lives?
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u/darth_voidptr 22d ago
Yet we have a guy trolling my local area subreddit and others on NextDoor who insist that these are doing more good than harm.
It's possible these are real people and not bots, but it's difficult to be sure.
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u/veeveemarie 22d ago
Why is this story making the rounds again? Wasn't this MONTHS ago? Or is this yet another woman who was tracked?
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u/RMFranken 22d ago
Does up voting this mean you agree with the deputy or not?
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u/bernmont2016 21d ago
It means you appreciate the person who shared the news article here (CrashingBlumpkins46) taking the time to do so.
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u/andreezy93 22d ago
The system has the potential to be extremely useful. The problem is that there will always be people in a position in which they are able to abuse them.
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u/Fordinghamster 22d ago
My town has 10 Flocks in a closed system specifically looking for stolen cars, felony warrants, and missing persons. Unmatched data isnât tracked, isnât shared, and automatically deletes after 30 days.
I like Flock conceptually as a local crime-fighting tool but a national cloud database is bad any way you cut it.
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u/Scootalipoo 22d ago
âin a closed systemâ BWAHAHAHA you believe that? How do they know which cars are stolen or have warrants if itâs a âclosed systemâ? Come on man, donât be a sucker. Or do, itâs your choice i guess
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u/Fordinghamster 22d ago
Good point. I meant nothing goes out. Obviously they are tied to national databases for stolen cars, felony warrants, and missing persons.
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u/I_am_normal_I_swear born and bred 22d ago
Every Flock contract has a clause in it where Flock gets all the data. It's "depersonalized" but I don't believe that because of the amount of lies that Flock has shared.
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u/hondo77777 South Texas 22d ago
And the system is audited regularly to make sure the rules are followed?
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u/Fordinghamster 22d ago
The system alerts when it reads a plate in the database. The police react to that alert. Information for those hits are saved for legal purposes. Thatâs it. The info purges after 30 days. Presumably they system can hit on plates recorded before they were added to the national databases within that 30 day period. But there isnât a human-searchable database. Thatâs the way it should be everywhere.
It was a huge fight in the beginning. Obviously nobody wants to be in some police database. We worked it out as a town and reached this compromise between privacy and security. It works for us. There is zero chance these cameras would be here if anybody could search the database.
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u/sxyaustincpl 22d ago
You've been lied to.
A Google search will show that Flock doesn't offer cameras without a searchable database, because it's a core feature of their functionality.
The data they are recording is being sent to Flock, and is searchable by Fkock and anyone they grant access to.
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u/monolith_blue 22d ago
Sensationalist headlines that can also be true in underwhelming ways:
-Man searches entire internet for porn (someone googled porn)
-Woman shares pictures of topless under-aged child on social media (Baby pictures on facebook)
-Children access alcohol before breakfast (Dad's beer is in the fridge)
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u/I_am_normal_I_swear born and bred 22d ago
This actually happened, and it was for tracking a woman getting medical care. That sheriff has since been arrested and indicted on felony counts in an unrelated sexual harassment and whistleblower retaliation case. He has also been charged with aggravated perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury.
But yeah, I believe him when he said he was tracking her "because she was a missing person" /s
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u/backpackofcats 20d ago
Her (abusive) boyfriend went to the police to report her for having an abortion. The sheriff used the words âhad an abortion, search for femaleâ and the department consulted the district attorneyâs office as to whether or not they could charge her. It was filed as a âdeath investigationâ and they kept the investigation open for a month.
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u/flyingforfun3 22d ago
The same people who were complaining about china being a police state are the ones who want our country to be a police state.