Officers Caught Spying on Wives Using Flock Cameras

Terry acknowledged in an interview that until recently her department had no regular practice of auditing officers' searches, calling the case "a learning process for us."

"Public trust is the foundation of effective policing," the Indianapolis department said in its August 13 Facebook post. "When conduct falls short of our standards, we will acknowledge it, correct it, and improve."

Max Isaacs, director of technology law and policy at New York University School of Law's Policing Project, said the fact that reporters found the misuse without the tools departments have shows "a need for systematic auditing that just isn't happening now." He added: "I think at a lot of agencies, you just don't have anyone really looking."

Eric Atstupenas, general counsel for the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, which trains nearly 400 law enforcement officials in the state, said every agency should assign one person or team to review the logs regularly. "Somebody has to own it, and somebody has to actually read the logs," he said.

Walker Lasbury, founder of the Indiana advocacy group Eyes Off Indiana, said the case proves the state needs rules. "The problem is, we don't have the safeguards in place to identify this kind of misuse, let alone prevent it," he said. Indiana has no laws governing police use of the technology. A spokesman for the Indianapolis police said the department supports statewide standards.

Departments are not abandoning the cameras. Fort Worth Police Chief Eddie Garcia defended his department's use of Flock while telling WFAA that officers using the system are themselves being watched. "Misuse certainly hurts the credibility of departments that do that," Garcia said.

Douglas police made the same point on their way out. "The Flock system has been an effective investigative tool for us and has been instrumental in helping us solve several serious crimes," the department's statement said. "However, given the divisive atmosphere surrounding its use we believe deactivating the system is the appropriate decision at this time." The Telegram and Gazette reported the decision followed the vandalism of three of the town's seven cameras; the vandalism was not mentioned in the department's statement.