Are we still worthy of this pretty awesome power? >> She was an outstanding investigator, one of Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple's best employees. >> She was an outstanding investigator. One of my absolute best employees. Nevertheless, as one of the best employees, she used the warrantless bulk data collection and mass surveillance cameras in Albany County 4,000 times to stalk her girlfriend and other acquaintances. In spite of this, the good sheriff insists that the people of Albany County have to trust them. >> People have to trust us. He claims that this data harvesting Orwellian police state tool that is being used to commit evil against innocent people is a necessary tool that they need to combat evil. >> It's a necessary tool. We need this tool to combat evil. Okay. >> Okay. Sheriff, whatever you say. Now, we know you don't defend the people of Albany County, but are we to understand that you'll continue to defend this tool that's being used to commit evil against the rest of us? >> Again, it's a great tool, and I will defend that tool. >> We do a whole lot of good with these cameras is the cover story and marketing gimmick used by law enforcement agencies like the Albany County Sheriff's Department in New York. I've long been a strong defender of LPR technology because I've seen firsthand the good that it can do. The public places tremendous trust in law enforcement and in our ability to use these tools responsibly. And many of us already know that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So when Albany County's DA talks about Flock being a pretty awesome power, you can almost see the mask of professionalism slip from his psychopathic face underneath. >> If you want to test a man's character, give him power. Left unchecked, his power will inevitably corrupt even the best intentions. And we get that power is dangerous without humility. If not held in check, a tool like this starts serving whoever holds it instead of the public it was built for. We have to come together as part of this community and say, "Okay, well, are we still worthy of this pretty awesome power? And if we are worthy, what can we do as a group to keep it in check?" Now, I don't know this to be factual, but it seems highly likely that given how their technology is being used that they name their company Flock Safety because they truly view the masses as sheep to be monitored and directed through their channels so that we can be efficiently fleeced, separated from our data, and farmed for their profit. And because cops have the same mindset toward the rest of us, the adoption of this technology, which brings them awesome power, >> pretty awesome power, >> was a no-brainer. 37year-old senior investigator Lorie Moore was in the criminal investigations unit in Albany County. She initiated 4,000 unauthorized searches. And even the sheriff admits she was the best they had. You got to watch this crazy Albany County Sheriff's press briefing with me. We're going to make some comments along the way. Hold on to your hats and listen to these people defend this Orwellian surveillance state nightmare. So on Friday afternoon, my council notified me that an outside source had reported an investigator using Flock to access information on a former acquaintance of hers. I immediately directed Professional Standards to contact Flack and conduct a full audit on the AY's usage. The audit identified a senior investigator in the criminal investigations unit who had run approximately 200 single searches on a single vehicle. That plate belonged to a former girlfriend. The audit also identified four additional plates queried on multiple occasions with no lawful purpose. As professional standards and in-house council expanded the audit, the true scope emerged. The investigator had tracked the former girlfriend's vehicle approximately 3,000 times and run four additional plates hundreds of times each, totaling more than 4,000 unauthorized searches. Earlier today, senior investigator Lori Moore, aged 47, a 13-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was charged with official misconduct, falsifying business records, both misdemeanors. She was issued appearance tickets to the to appear in the town of New Scotland Court on the 24th of September at 5:00 p.m. >> Wait, wait, that's it? Just charged with official misconduct and falsifying business records? What would happen to you if the cops caught you stalking somebody over 4,000 times? I bet they'd throw the book at you. >> An additional member of the command staff has been placed out on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation. And at this time, it does not appear that any other members of the of the agency have engaged in unauthorized vehicle tracking. >> And that's it. That's all it was. We can assure you that it was just Lori. Nobody else in the department was misusing our warrantless mass surveillance unconstitutional system. It was just Lori misusing it. She was the best we had, but she's the only one. You can trust me. >> As a law enforcement executive, this is a gut punch. I've long been a strong defender of LPR technology because I've seen firsthand the good that it can do. It's helped us solve heinous cases from murders, organized retail theft, burglaries that might have otherwise gone unsolved. >> Oh, really? Which ones? Instead of you spreading anecdotes all over the table, could you be a little bit specific? >> The public places tremendous trust in law enforcement and in our ability to use these tools responsibly. >> We do. We place tremendous trust in people who specialize in roadside piracy, trampling our rights under corporate traffic laws, criminalizing masses of people under unconstitutional drug laws, confiscating guns, and imprisoning people based on anti-second amendment gun laws. What happened here is a breach of that trust. And for that, I'm truly sorry. But let me be clear. It also demonstrates that when somebody abuses that trust, we'll hold them accountable. That's all I have for you. >> You couldn't trust us before, but now we got rid of Lori. Now you can trust us. And you can trust that anytime any one of us abuses the system again, we'll we'll give him a light tap on the back of the hand. district attorney. >> Over the weekend, I got a phone call from Craig Apple, which I always count as never a good thing uh to talk to him on uh a holiday weekend. But when he told me what was going on, uh I immediately shared his concerns and said, "Sheriff, whatever we need to do to get to the bottom of this, let's do it." Abraham Lincoln once said that nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. >> No, it's probably not a good idea to give these men power. I mean, yeah, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts. Absolutely. But another thing about power is that it draws like a magnet those who are willing to engage in corruption. Those people who are actually corruptible. That's who the law enforcement profession and politics draws. People who want to control other people against their will without their consent. And it's all done nice and legal. Like it's legalized criminality. And these guys are like, "Where do I sign? I want some of that." And >> today that test arrived at our doorstep. Now, the Albby County Sheriff has announced charges against Lori Moore, one of their own, who is accused of misusing access to a system built to protect our community. Misusing access. Don't you love the euphemisms they like to use to kind of minimize, take the edge off the actual truth. She was engaged in wholesale stalking. It's harassment. It's terrorism of innocent people using a system that wasn't designed to keep you safe. It was designed to violate your Fourth Amendment right to be secure in your person by building a historical database against you. It's a tool that was built by evil people for evil. So, of course, evil people are going to grab a tool that was built for evil to do evil. >> Like any defendant, she's entitled to the presumption of innocence and will have [snorts] her day in court. My job is not to judge that case in public. is to talk about what this asks of the rest of us. [snorts and clears throat] When this tool is used the way it's supposed to be used, it has helped us catch a lot of bad guys. >> When this tool is used the way it's supposed to be used, it's a 24-hour a day, 7 day a week ATM for flock safety to harvest all of your data, where you went, what you were in, who you were with. It's more than just a license plate reader. We already know that flock is lying and law enforcement agencies are lying about the capabilities. >> As the sheriff said, solve homicides. It finds missing kids and gives families answers that they otherwise would not have. >> It's for the safety of the people, say the tyrants. >> Is invaluable and it is worth protecting. >> The system that was built by evil people to do evil on innocent people is worth protecting. according to the Albany County District Attorney and the sheriff, >> which is exactly why we cannot be let it used in any other way. Now, look, I get it. We are living through a time when cameras and data centers and artificial intelligence are expanding faster than our ability to oversee them. People feel that and they are right to feel it. The answer to that feeling is not to not to pretend these tools are harmless. The answer is to show every time that somebody is watching the watchers. >> No, no, no. The answer is to get rid of the tool that was designed by evil people to do evil. That's the answer. Cuz look what you guys are doing. You guys just got caught doing evil. And you didn't even get caught by your own people. It came from an outside source. The person who was actually being stalked. >> So here's what this moment asks of us. It asks us to let the criminal process do its work the same >> let the criminals do their work >> same way it would for anybody else without exception. And it asks us to keep questioning whether every tool we've been given still deserves the power it holds over your life. Not just today but every day we have it. So he admits that this tool that they use every single day, every moment of every single day is a power that's used against your life. And they hold that power. They hold the they hold the power of the tool that's designed to operate against your life. >> With our actions today, I hope we have met and exceeded the challenge with the cander it deserves. >> What a lie. He's just a liar. This is a foundational problem for any republic. Authority comes from the consent of the governed. >> That's a lie. Authority doesn't even exist. Nobody has the right, no man has the right to claim one minute of your life or one nano particle of your property. And if it's true that I don't have a higher claim over your life and property than you, and you don't have a higher claim over my life and property than me, and that's the foundational basis of authority, then there can be no authority. Are you really going to tell me that you have authority over my life because some political parasite wrote a corporate traffic law and now if I don't activate my turn signal, you have the right to step into my life and harass me and find me and kidnap me and cage me. That's all an evil fantasy. >> But that consent is built on trust. Left unchecked, this power will inevitably corrupt even the best intentions. And we get that power is dangerous without humility. It's true of a badge. It's true of a prison key. >> And there's no such thing as humility as long as you're wearing a costume and a badge, thinking that that costume and badge grants you extra special rights. >> It's true of a camera pole. [snorts] If not held in check, a tool like this starts serving whoever holds it instead of the public it was built for. >> Oh [laughter] my god. Our job today is to demonstrate that there is a system of rigid transparency ensuring that >> wait the system of rigid transparency was in place before you got rid of Lori and that system of rigid transparency is going to be here after you get rid of Lori. If it happened with Lori, it's going to happen without Lori. If Lori was the best of you, what are the worst of you doing? What are they involved in? How can we trust that when you conducted your investigation, you didn't find others who are also abusing the system? >> The watchmen are held accountable by the citizens that they serve. We intend to answer that demand with humility, honesty, [snorts] and as always, accountability. So, I want to thank the sheriff. I want to thank all of you, and I'm sure we'll take questions at this time. >> There can be no accountability as long as you have qualified immunity. How long did she have access to this technology? >> Roughly since uh the end of 24 2024. >> Did you catch this as an employee? You heard of it? >> No, we got it from an outside source um who reached out, saw her name. Um we were unaware of that. We did a deep dive. Saw her name. In other words, she got on deflock.org or some of these other sites that expose flock and she realized, "Wow, uh I'm being spied on." And if it wasn't for Dlock and if it wasn't for all these other websites that expose flock cameras that Garrett Langley, the CEO of Flock calls domestic terrorists. >> And then unfortunately there's terroristic organizations like Dlock whose primary motivation is chaos. They are closer to Antifa than they are anything else. And that I think is unfortunate because we don't want chaos or I don't want chaos. If it wasn't for those websites, the person being stalked would have never known and Lori would still be getting away with what she was doing for almost 2 years. Initially, as I said, it looked like roughly 258 260. It climbed a little bit each day. Um, and then we did a dive another year back into 2025 and it was revealed that the one plate in particular was run 2985 times. The other individuals known to her were related friends, family, >> former acquaintances. >> Former acquaintances. >> Can you speak to Lorie uh more? What she was like as an employee? >> She was an outstanding investigator, one of my absolute best employees in this. That's why it literally breaks my heart. >> And no stream can rise higher than its source. If Lori was one of the absolute best employees in this department, there's a systemic problem that they're not talking about. in not just in this department, but every department across the nation that's using flock safety cameras. >> Was the employee who got suspended related to this case or was that separate? >> The other employee, it's kind of an offshoot of this case. Um, I really can't get into details on that because we're really in the infant stages of that and um, internal affairs has that at this point. >> There disciplinary actions against her in the past or any reprimands. So, this first time I'm Not aware of any. >> Were these Flock cameras operated by the sheriff's office or were they different agencies? >> Well, Flock cameras are operated by Flock. Um, we have a contract with Flock. We've had for a number of years. >> So, Flock cameras are operated by Flock. I got a question for you, and I wish some of us were in the crowd right here asking this guy questions. Who's auditing the flock executives who reportedly were watching pre-teen girls doing gymnastics at Marcus Jewish Community Center in Atlanta? See, what they probably don't want you to know is the access was treated as a company sales practice that the city had permitted. The incident occurred in Dunwoody, Georgia, and Flock CEO Garrett Langley had to come out and apologize for the poor judgment. He said the company would stop using Dunwy for footage demonstrations and promised more transparency kind of like this sheriff's doing right here. And what did the Dun Woody City Council do after that? They renewed its Flock contract anyway. >> And again, you know, listen, I've been one of Flock's biggest defenders. Um, I am I mean I've seen the good these things can do, but >> he's still one of Flock's biggest defenders, even after this incident of 4,000 stalking inquiries. That tells you everything you need to know about this sheriff and what he thinks about the people in Albany County. And um there's an element in there that they broke our trust. So now we got to rebuild that. Everybody's been out there fighting to save these cameras and something like this is a major setback. But the DA was right. I mean, we have since this all unfolded, and it's only been a couple of days, we have completely revised the uh access to flock. Now, it's only a supervisor. It under goes an audit process with internal affairs, which is reviewed every single every 30 days that has to be kicked up to an under sheriff or a chief. And >> wait a minute, you didn't have systems in place before. There were no systems to protect the public. And then you got caught. Now you're going to put systems in place, but the system itself was designed by evil people to do evil to innocent people. What is going on here? >> In there needs to be accountable. It has to have a case number, a reason why. There were reasons why she was putting in there, but they were not true. They were not accurate reasons. Hence the falsifying business records. >> What? An investigator, a police officer in your department lied? Well, sheriff, aren't you kind of trained to lie and engage in deceptive practices so you can extract information from people that you're basically domestically terrorizing? But we have if we take that case number, it has to be attached to something and that is what the supervisors will be doing. >> What was the time period in which she was making these these searches on the run authorized? Well, initially it was from January to Friday night and [snorts] actually Friday night another search was conducted. >> What is the police what is the sheriff's department doing to you know prevent this from having future limiting unauthorized access to this information? >> Well, that's a great question. That's kind of I just answered it. [laughter] So, um we've restricted deputies no longer have access to it. Only a supervisor and investigations [clears throat] and a commander will audit everything every 30 days. In order for a deputy to use it, he has to reach out to a sergeant. Hey, this is a case I'm working on. Here's the license plate. Can I run this? And the the sergeant will run it. Has to have a legitimate incident number in it, a reason, a case attached to it. And then that will be audited again by internal affairs. And that report will be sent up to a chief deputy or an undersher. So, we're taking basically our first line level of defense out of the mix. They will have to get authorization from the sergeant. >> Oh, it'll be authorized by internal affairs. So, you guys are going to investigate themselves. Let me just put this on the table for you. Sheriff fly cameras don't wait for a warrant or even reasonable suspicion. So, how can they be constitutional? They photograph every passing vehicle 24/7. log the time, location, direction of travel, and the vehicle fingerprint. And if I'm understanding this right, the resulting database can be searched by plate or description at any time. That's not equivalent to a police officer glancing at a license plate in public. It's a searchable historical record of movements. And you're okay with this, Sheriff? You're really continuing to defend this >> where these sir obviously a lot of negativity of something like this but can you also speak to you know how many cases and severity of such cases where the flock has been such a resource obviously you have a bad actor like this doing something but how everything outweighs it >> was hard to hear but yeah can you give examples of how flock safety is actually used to do good for the community >> sure So, just since I've been DA, um there was a case in March of 2025 in which there was a vehicular homicide, a hit and run on Wolf Road, and the vehicle early in the morning, like 7:30 in the morning, the vehicle kind of disappeared into traffic. Um, through the use of LPRs, license plate readers, we were able to figure out where the car was, where it went, you know, why as a normal commuter, this individual would come into Colony at a certain time and then leave every day at a certain time. And then using LPR technology, we were able to figure out, wait a minute, this one car is leaving Colony at a time it's never left before. Oh, you're so you're able to track this one vehicle, which means you can track specifically track every one of our vehicles and you can establish a pattern and a practice as we pursue life, liberty, and property. So, you guys, you guys have an intricate, you have it dialed in. You know us, you know where we've been, who we've been with. And with signal signal trace technology which is linked with flock safety cameras, they can find out what devices are emanating from the vehicle or even walking pedestrian traffic is monitored by flock and signals are picked up through your AirPods through your phone through your Apple Watch device is sending off a signal. So this is some pretty awesome power you guys have in your hands. pretty awesome power. >> So that we were able to develop leads from that, further the investigation, and eventually get us to the person who killed somebody by running them over on Wolf Road. Right. So that's just one case off the top of my head. >> We want to catch the guy who killed somebody, right? I mean, you do want to give up a little essential liberty for politically promised security cuz we're promising you security right now. And I'm giving you this anecdotal story of how we nabbed somebody who killed somebody. You want that guy off the street. If you don't want that guy off the street, what's wrong with you? >> Uh you we all remember the Jacob Klein case, which was before my time, but it was expertly prosecuted by Jessica Blaine Lewis, who's now my uh deputy chief. One of the reasons that they were able to catch him was through the use of LPRs and other other parts of technology. So, as the sheriff has said, like this is a wonderful tool for law enforcement, but it is a tool. >> This is a wonderful tool for law enforcement, not for the community so much, but for us. Oh, yeah. >> And if it gets abused, then we have the responsibility to a acknowledge that it got abused, but then as a community, cuz I live in this community, so does the sheriff here. Obviously, >> if it gets abused, it is an abuse tool. Obviously, we have to come together as part of this community and say, "Okay, well, are we still worthy of this pretty awesome power and if we are worthy, what can we do as a group to keep it in check? What can we do to continue to use this?" But ensure that the community trusts that we're doing the right thing with it, just like any other law enforcement tool that that we're given. I don't know about you, but I always place my trust in organized crime rings that they'll do the right thing. >> The public skepticism of these cameras is pretty high right now. So, apart from tightening the internal controls, what else are you planning on doing or thinking about doing to increase public trust? >> Well, I right now I I really can't tell you I'm planning on doing anything more. I mean, we've restricted it. Um, you know, again, it it's a necessary tool. We need this tool to combat evil. Okay? And I know that there's a lot of skepticism. I understand that. But people have to trust us. And they also have to trust us that when there is a breach in that trust that we will take the appropriate action. >> It's necessary. Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedoms. It's the argument of tyrants. It's the creed of slaves. >> And I think this demonstrates just that. We just found out about this the a couple of days ago and we have since already audited the entire department, everybody and their usage thereof. And again, with the exception of one person, which is an offshoot of this initial investigation, everybody is using it legitimately. But >> we believe you. I I I don't know what more we can do and how strict we can make it other than, you know, I'm running everybody's flock requests, you know, and they're justifying it to me. Again, we have taken out the first line of defense. We've given it to supervisors. It we it will be audited. It will be reviewed every 30 days. A report has to be submitted up. Um, and I think it's very clear from this point going forward that we're not screwing around. You will be held accountable for it. I last week I actually did a jury trial and as I was picking a jury, the potential jurors asked me, they said, "Well, did any of your evidence come from, you know, flock cameras?" And I said, "Well, no, but does that matter to to you guys?" Everyone said, "Yeah, it matters." They said, "Well, would you discount it?" And they said, "No." So, you know, I think the reality is this is a really complex uh discussion that people have like, >> no, it's not really that complex. Do you want liberty or do you want tyranny? Do you want mass warrantless surveillance or would you rather uphold the fourth amendment? It's really, really simple. >> I think the general public understands the good it can do in solving crimes, but we also understand how it can be abused. how it can be abused. It is the abuse. >> So, you know, I see the debate. You certainly I've been reading other stuff in Troy and down Columbia County has been reported on and we always kind of knew that at some point that, you know, the debate would come to Albany, right? So, but if we have these kind of long- form discussions about the reality that we have and all the measures we've put in place uh to protect the public from, you know, the the the harm that could come if it gets abused, you know, I >> protect the public from you guys, right? Because this is what happened. You guys went against the public trust. You guys were left holding the bag. You guys committed the evil with this tool of evil designed by evil people. You guys did it. >> I think we can advance the conversation to a point where, you know, again, we understand how important it is. We understand controls are needed and are in place and we can move forward and still use these tools. >> All right. All the rest of the questions from the reporters were weak, but calling this aimed at criminals is misleading. It's marketing. The overwhelming majority of plates captured belong to innocent people. They're commuting. They're shopping. They're visiting family. The investigative value Apple touts is the ability to go backward through time on innocent people's movements after a crime is reported. That is the definition of a drag net. A warrantless surveillance bulk data collection drag net necessary to combat evil is rhetoric that tyrants always used to hoodwink the masses and to think well you are here to keep us safe. And it treats skepticism about warrantless bulk collection as moral failure rather than a legitimate constitutional freedomoriented question. Leave your thoughts about this in the comment section below. I want to hear what you have to say. Your comment definitely helps overcome the algorithms. 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