In St. Cloud, Florida, firefighter and paramedic Theresa Sysol retired in March 2024. According to police, her access to the city’s surveillance system did not retire with her.
A routine audit found that her credentials had been used to view live camera feeds after she left, police said. The charging affidavit, as reported by WKMG, says a family member recalled seeing Sysol monitor cameras at the city pool while her son attended a summer camp. It says Sysol told officers she was trying to keep her son safe. Police charged her with unauthorized access. 12
The system was Fusus, a platform that can bring public and private cameras together for police and other first responders. Its appeal is easy to understand: when an emergency call comes in, a dispatcher or officer may be able to see what is happening without first tracking down a camera owner. But St. Cloud illustrates the other side of that convenience. An account that should no longer work can become a window into a city's connected cameras.
An algorithm you steer, not one that steers you.
People across the country have been fighting the spread of Flock license-plate cameras. The larger question is what happens when cameras, alerts and other data are connected into a system—and who gets to use it. The risk extends beyond any one camera or company.
A map with many eyes
A roadside license-plate reader captures a vehicle and records details such as where and when it passed. A real-time crime center brings information from multiple sources into an interface that police can use while responding to an incident. Depending on the system and the local setup, those sources can include cameras, dispatch information and other alerts.
Axon, which owns Fusus, describes a map that can show camera feeds alongside dispatch information, officer locations and license-plate-reader data. Flock sells its own platform, FlockOS, which it says can combine video, plate-reader data, sensors, drones and emergency-call information. These are descriptions of what the vendors offer, not proof that every city has switched on every feature. 34
Private cameras can be part of the picture. A business or resident might register a camera so police know whom to contact after an incident. That is different from connecting a compatible camera so that police can see a feed, either continuously or under conditions chosen by the owner. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties organization, has warned that integrating private cameras can enlarge police surveillance without the people being filmed having a say in the arrangement. 5
The distinction matters. A camera owner can agree to share footage, but the pedestrians, customers, neighbors or children passing through the frame may not know that a police network can see it.
A sales demonstration, not an emergency
In Dunwoody, Georgia, a resident's public-records request uncovered a different kind of access. Flock accessed a camera in a children’s gymnastics room to demonstrate its surveillance system to potential customers. Company employees also accessed cameras at a fitness studio and swimming pool at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The mayor said Flock told her the employees had accessed the network for a demonstration to potential customers. 67
Flock told WSB-TV that its development partnership with the city allowed camera access for training and demonstrations. The mayor said the company apologized to the community center and that a new agreement would stop Flock from using Dunwoody's system for product demonstrations. The accounts do not establish what was visible during each access or settle every question about permission from the camera owner. 86
A camera shared for public safety had become part of a sales pitch.
Flock accessed a camera in a children’s gymnastics room to demonstrate its surveillance system to potential customers.
That is the sort of boundary a city needs to understand before it connects a feed: not only whether police can see it, but whether the vendor can, who else can be shown it, and what the agreement allows them to do.
The question is not just who owns the camera
Access can be granted for a good reason and outlast that reason. In St. Cloud, police said an audit found the former employee's account had been used after she retired. The account's continued access was the immediate control problem. The same question applies whenever a person changes jobs, a contract ends or an outside agency no longer needs a connection. 1
Audits can help reveal those failures, as they apparently did in St. Cloud. But a log is not the same thing as someone checking it, understanding what happened and being able to stop improper access. A useful audit must show enough to answer who accessed what and why—and someone must be responsible for reviewing it.
A city also has to understand the permissions it gives other organizations. The ACLU has warned that communities replacing Flock with another license-plate-reader provider should not assume that the privacy problem disappears: vendors differ in how data can be shared, searched and retained. That is the organization's advocacy position, and it points to a practical test for any replacement: compare the actual contract and settings, not just the name on the hardware. 9
The Brennan Center for Justice has described how police can combine plate-reader data with camera footage and other surveillance systems. Its analysis highlights a problem for people whose vehicles are recorded by privately owned cameras: the agreement to share may be between the camera owner and police, while the person being tracked has no opportunity to object. 10
What a community can ask
A town considering one of these systems should be able to explain which cameras and data sources are connected; whether access is live or by request; which police agencies, vendor employees and contractors can use them; and how quickly access is removed when it is no longer needed. Residents should also be able to ask how long records are kept, whether searches need a documented purpose, and who independently reviews the access logs.
Those answers may differ from one town to the next, and a vendor's advertised capabilities are not a substitute for the local contract and configuration. Police may have compelling reasons to see a camera during an emergency. The question is whether access stays limited to the people and purposes the community actually agreed to.
The camera on the pole is visible. The permissions behind it are much harder to see. They deserve just as much attention.
References
- Former first responder arrested for unauthorized access to St. Cloud’s FUSUS security system. (2025, September 14). WFTV. https://www.wftv.com/news/local/osceola-county/former-first-responder-arrested-unauthorized-access-st-clouds-fusus-security-system/7D2MDEFGKNBNPBFPQA5WLNKEUA/
- Former St. Cloud Fire employee accused of accessing city’s camera system. (2025, September 12). WKMG News 6. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2025/09/12/former-st-cloud-fire-employee-accused-of-accessing-citys-camera-system/
- Axon Fusus: Real-Time Intelligence Platform for Public Safety. (n.d.). Axon. https://www.axon.com/products/axon-fusus
- FlockOS: Real-Time Crime Center Platform. (n.d.). Flock Safety. https://www.flocksafety.com/products/flock-os
- Neighborhood Watch Out: Cops Are Using Fusus to Incorporate Private Cameras Into Their Real-Time Surveillance Networks. (2023, May). Electronic Frontier Foundation. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/neighborhood-watch-out-cops-are-incorporating-private-cameras-their-real-time
- Are we being watched? Dunwoody approves controversial Flock contract. (2026, April 14). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. https://www.ajc.com/news/2026/04/are-we-being-watched-dunwoody-approves-controversial-flock-contract/
- City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children’s Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo. (2026, April 30). 404 Media. https://www.404media.co/city-learns-flock-accessed-cameras-in-childrens-gymnastics-room-as-a-sales-pitch-demo-renews-contract-anyway/
- Dunwoody approves Flock cameras despite some neighbors privacy concerns. (2026, April 13). WSB-TV. https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/dunwoody-approves-flock-cameras-despite-some-neighbors-privacy-concerns/6VL6UI2LAFBHTIT6FVEYSDFP4I/
- Beware of Other License Plate Surveillance Companies Besides Flock. (2026, August 25). American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/tracking-alpr-cameras/other-alpr-vendors
- Automatic License Plate Readers: Legal Status and Policy Recommendations for Law Enforcement Use. (2020). Brennan Center for Justice. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/automatic-license-plate-readers-legal-status-and-policy-recommendations