One Grain of Sand is not a Heap

I sat uncomfortably in a steel chair in a small, spartan room. How long is this going to take? Usually they’re back by now, but they’re taking longer. The least they could do is keep me company. I’ve been on the other side of the table a hundred times. By 2012 we already had a couple cameras. They were all mounted on squad cars and helped officers automatically run plates. It made a lot of sense. Camera is with the officer who is already able to write down plate numbers and enter them in the computer to check for outstanding violations. This saved a couple steps. Results ready automatically. Everybody loved it and bought lots more. In 2022 a company rep came to the police department. “What if I told you,” the man started pitching like Morpheus from the Matrix, “you can just run plates without even being present.” Police Chief Bill Douglas listened with interest. “And this is legal?” he asked. “Of course,” the company representative said. “All the cameras can be on city-owned land. Knotts, 1983, these are public roads and plates are required to be displayed. It’s exactly like having an officer stationed in the same place writing down license plates and running them. No different.” “I’m going to have to talk to contracting and bid this, of course.” Chief Douglas said. “Actually you don’t,” said the company rep. “I’ve dug into your procurement regulations, and there is a good case for sole-sourcing this contract so we can get started quickly. We have technology no one else is able to offer. In a category of one, you don’t have to solicit bids.” “But I’ll have to go to the Common Council for the funding still,” Chief Douglas said. “I’ve got good news on that front too.” The rep had really done his homework, you have to hand it to these guys. I guess when this is how you get paid, it’s worth the effort. “You have a funding line you can use already.” “I’ll have to think it over,” Chief Douglas said. He shook the man’s hand, then saw him to the lobby. He didn’t have to think long. The prospect was enticing. The police department exists to prevent and solve crimes. For understandable reasons, crimes usually happen out of sight of officers. This could give us an extra set of eyes. The chief called him back. The contract was signed and the cameras started getting placed. Over the course of 2023 we put in twenty-seven of them with eight more planned. Each camera that went in was just another camera. We weren’t building a panopticon. We were putting cameras at busy intersections. Each camera helped ensure we had the data needed to track criminals who passed through that intersection. Just one more camera doesn’t change this, no matter how many there are. We already had an SOP for how to address use of the system by officers from the squad-mounted unit days. Officers were required to enter a justification and a case number for each query. Reviews of the queries were to be conducted monthly by the commander of each unit. The commander of the unit is responsible for his officers, so of course this was the right person for the audit role. In 2026, a file came across my desk. I work in Internal Affairs, not always the most glamorous gig. We have to deal with police misconduct and this sure looked like the genuine article. A lady had a complaint that one of our officers was spying on her. How did she know? There’s apparently a website “haveibeenflocked.com” that aggregates public records requests to show whose license plates have been searched. So we met with her, she showed us the results for her license plate. Sure enough. Her ex, the MPD officer, has been going ham on her license plate. One-hundred in a month. The blood ran out of my face when I saw the page. Damn. “Are you ok?” the woman asked. Apparently I’d taken too long to respond to her last sentence. “Ahem, yes, of course. It’s just… this is very concerning,” I managed. “Ok, we’ll be looking into it and get back to you. Thank you for the information and don’t hesitate to call if the situation escalates any,” I told the woman. It sucks when this happens. Even good officers make mistakes, and then we have to be the bad guys and blow the whistle. But there was another aspect of the situation that made my stomach turn. I immediately thought of some of the “test” queries I’d been doing. The portal just asks for a justification. You can put anything you want, and it’s up to the commander to sort through what’s what. Nobody looks at “test.” So I made a few queries. And then a few more. Look, I don’t want to get any further into what my situation is. But the thing is, the investigation triggered a closer look at all the audit trails. The audit trails led to me. And that led me to this room. When I got up this morning, I didn’t know how today was going to go. I put on a suit and tie, stopped for coffee on the way to work, and walked in the front door of the station. “Detective Williams? The commander wants to see you in his office.” My coffee was now cold. I was no longer in the commander’s office. I had asked for a lawyer.