A police chief in Braselton, Georgia, arrested on charges that he used that city’s automated license plate recognition cameras to stalk and harass private citizens, searched Capitola’s Flock Safety camera data earlier this year, according to data compiled by the countywide grassroots coalition Get The Flock Out (GTFO), which opposes the cameras.
The chief, Michael Steffman, had worked in the police department in the suburban Atlanta town since 2005, according to an Associated Press report. He resigned one day before his Nov. 20 arrest, when he was charged with stalking, sending harassing communications, misuse of automated license plate recognition systems and violating his oath as a public officer.
Steffman searched Capitola’s data in early 2025, according to GTFO. Members of the grassroots group compiled data from the Braselton Police Department’s Flock audit trails through Muckrock public records requests, and found the top three license plates that the ex-chief had searched. Those searches spanned from October 2024 through September 2025. The group then got Capitola Police Department Flock network data via public records request, and found that Steffman had searched Capitola’s data three times from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4, for the most-searched license plate of the three…