A Georgia Cop Used Flock to Track 2 Other Cops: His Ex and Her Friend

In recent months, there has been a surge in reports of police officers misusing automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) sold by Flock Safety to stalk former romantic partners—but details about these incidents are often scarce. Now, with documents obtained via a public records request, WIRED can reveal specific details about one extensive Flock-fueled surveillance campaign and the subsequent investigation and fallout. Dustin Bozzo, who until this month worked as a patrolman in the Atlanta-area suburb of Alpharetta, Georgia, allegedly used Flock 56 times between March and May to search for the license plate of a former romantic partner—a fellow member of the Alpharetta Police Department. (Their relationship itself violated the city’s ban on workplace dating, documents show.) When Bozzo noticed that his ex’s car was often near that of another police officer, he began searching for that officer’s vehicle as well. He did so 29 times between March and May. Lieutenant Jason Hiott of the Alpharetta Police Department tells WIRED that Bozzo was placed on paid leave on July 20 and resigned on August 5 following an internal investigation. He adds that an “ongoing criminal investigation” is underway in the department's Criminal Investigations Division. Alpharetta police chief Trent Lindgren tells WIRED that the investigation will likely be finished soon, adding that the department holds itself to a “high standard,” and took “immediate action” when misuse was identified. Flock did not respond to a request for comment. Bozzo did not respond to multiple requests for comment. He changed his Facebook profile picture and name after WIRED messaged him on the platform. In the civilian world, a breakup may tempt people to check up on their former lovers by pulling up their social media profiles. But in the police world, many officers have instant access to Flock—a powerful, informative, and invasive tool for tracking people’s locations. Across the country, there have been at least 45 documented incidents of police officers misusing Flock in order to look up or track current or former romantic partners. According to the documents—which include the full internal report written by Alpharetta police Sergeant Jabbar Braithwaite—Bozzo says that he didn’t use Flock with the intent to intimidate or cause harm. The sequence of events they describe nonetheless show that even in such a case, the misuse of this technology can quickly and easily escalate into a serious offense. Per the internal report, Bozzo admitted to Braithwaite that he had a fling with a then-fellow officer that started in late 2025. (That officer is now a civilian employee of the department.) The other officer, for her part, claimed that most, if not all of their romantic communications happened on Snapchat. It’s unclear how much of the relationship may have played out during work hours. Bozzo, upon first being asked if he “had ever been romantically involved” with the former officer, responded by asking, "At work?" according to the documents. “To clarify the question, I asked whether, at any time, either while employed together or otherwise, he and [redacted] had engaged in a sexual relationship,” Braithwaite wrote. “Patrolman Bozzo responded that they had.” The former officer also admitted that they had been sexually intimate, but both maintained that it never occurred while they were on duty. Nevertheless, their behavior had caught the attention of multiple people within the department. According to the documents, multiple people reported that Bozzo and the other officer “frequently spent personal time together while on duty” and were “not engaged in their assigned responsibilities” while doing so. The reports prompted the police department to separate the officers, who had been assigned to the same squad and patrol beat, and issue them a “written directive” about “acceptable workplace interactions.” However, the officers seemingly continued the affair. One sergeant reported that he saw the pair meeting in a “dark, secluded park,” per Braithwaite’s summary, at about 2:30 am while Officer Bozzo was on duty but the other officer was not. Bozzo claimed that the fling lasted approximately one month, and that their eventual breakup was mutual—though the other officer claimed that the relationship lasted several months, and that she initiated the breakup. Both said that it had ended on good terms. It’s unclear exactly when the relationship ended, but Bozzo’s Flock searches for her vehicle began in early March. Citing Flock audit logs, Braithwaite claims that when Flock’s system would prompt Bozzo to specify the reason for each query, he almost always selected either “Wanted Person” or “Traffic Infraction." “When asked why he routinely selected those categories, Patrolman Bozzo explained that doing so was ‘just a quick keystroke,’” Braithwaite wrote. | Got a Tip? | |---| | Are you a current or former police officer, government official, or Flock Safety employee who wants to talk about the company? We’d like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporters securely on Signal at carolinehaskins.61. | Bozzo claimed that he was trying to make sure that the officer had arrived home safely, claiming she often drove around late at night. He began searching her uncle’s license plate after learning that she got into a car accident and was borrowing his car, the documents show. Between April 5 and April 14, he searched for the uncle’s vehicle 18 times. At some point, while reviewing the search results, Bozzo claimed that he began noticing a particular vehicle that was often in close proximity to her. The car belonged to an Alpharetta Police Department officer who recently transferred from a nearby police department. Bozzo claims he found the search results “weird,” prompting him to start searching the officer’s vehicle. Though Bozzo denied being motivated by jealousy, he knew the officer personally: They had both helped the Alpharetta officer when she was moving. (Both men corroborated this claim.) Bozzo’s former romantic partner, upon being interviewed by Braithwaite, claimed that she didn’t know what motivated Bozzo to search for the vehicles she and the other officer were driving. Both she and the other officer insisted that they had always been platonic friends. The other officer, for his part, told investigators that his interactions with Bozzo had been friendly and respectful. Bozzo told Alpharetta investigators that he understood that his actions were wrong, and Braithwaite did not find any evidence to undermine his claim that he hadn’t acted with “malice or an intent to harm.” However, Braithwaite ultimately told Bozzo that “regardless of his stated motivation,” his use of Flock was “inconsistent with Department policy and the authorized use of the system.”