Police investigation finds Joplin officer improperly used surveillance tool
The use of Flock systems in ICE operations has alarmed immigration and privacy advocates in recent months.
The use of Flock systems in ICE operations has alarmed immigration and privacy advocates in recent months.
JOPLIN, Mo. — Abuse of Joplin’s Flock license plate reader system resulted in the firing of a Joplin police officer.
On January 10, the Joplin Police Department said a December 2025 internal investigation found that a Joplin Police officer violated departmental policy for the use of equipment and systems by misusing the Flock system.
Michael Williams with DeFlock Joplin, a group of community members investigating Flock-branded surveillance systems, said he believes that record requests to the police and city through the Missouri Sunshine Law helped trigger an investigation into the officer. Arkansas GRITA reached out to the Joplin Police Department for comment but did not receive a reply.
The Missouri Sunshine Law is the state's version of the Freedom of Information Act. It allows any Missouri resident to request public records.
Flock Safety is a for-profit company that contracts with government agencies to create a network of cameras searchable to anyone within the contracted group. The system uses artificial intelligence to document license plates and other identifying details about vehicles, including identifying "suspicious patterns" of driving.
There has been growing controversy over the use of Flock cameras and automated License Plate Readers across the region in recent months. Communities have pushed back against their use in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. While Flock does not directly contract with ICE, any customer, such as a local police department, may perform searches on behalf of the agency.
DeFlock Joplin began investigating Flock data searches involving officers several months ago. "By October, we knew there was a problem," Williams said. The group launched its website on December 31.
"We wanted to put the system on trial with the website," he said.
They published their audit of Flock records one day before the city's announcement. It showed that one user was responsible for 25% of all of the Joplin Police Department's Flock data searches from January 1 to October 12, 2025. The user had searched two plates a combined 542 times, often multiple times per day and at odd hours into the night.
Image from DeFlock Joplin
Joplin police did not identify the officer. But the privacy advocacy group HaveIBeenFlocked.com identifies Joplin's top user during this time period as "K And." The website compiles public records requests provided by volunteers from around the country into a searchable database. Records the police department provided to DeFlock Joplin and a report by KSN-16 identified the user as Kenneth Andersen.
Joplin Police Department has requested that the Missouri State Highway Patrol conduct an independent criminal investigation into the incident and officer.