Former Katy police officer charged with stalking, misuse of official information involving Flock camera

FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas - A former Katy Police Department officer has been charged after an investigation determined he misused the Flock system, officials said. 

Former Katy PD officer charged following investigation into Flock camera misuse

What we know:

According to a release from the Katy Police Department, former officer Sergio Rodriguez was charged with stalking and misuse of official information. 

Officials said the officer's ex-wife filed a complaint alleging that Rodriguez was somehow tracking her whereabouts. 

Following an investigation, it was learned that Rodriguez had misused the Flock system to run his ex-wife's vehicle license plate. 

Court documents stated it all started on or about November 2, 2024, and continued through April 2, 2025. 

Authorities said Rodriguez was immediately suspended, and the findings were turned over to the Fort Bend County District Attorney's Office. 

Rodriguez was later terminated and criminally charged, officials said. 

Officials stated the Flock camera system that was abused is the same system that was used to bring formal charges against Rodriguez. 

Court documents also stated he placed a tracking device on his ex-wife's vehicle as well. 

Dig deeper:

In a statement, the Katy Police Department said they've used the Flock system for the last five years and they have been able to solve hundreds of crimes each year with the use of the technology. They added it has been one of the best crime-fighting tools developed in modern policing. 

What they're saying:

Officials said in a release: "The Katy Police Department remains fully committed to protecting our community while fiercely guarding the privacy and civil liberties of every resident. We recognize that adopting advanced public safety technology requires a foundation of absolute transparency and strict oversight. To ensure our automated license plate readers (LPRs) are used ethically and responsibly, we have established rigorous operational safeguards. 

Flock Safety has assisted us with a very robust analytic system that creates a permanent, unalterable digital audit trail of who conducted the search, when it occurred, and why. Flock has since put in place an updated system that reviews itself and monitors abnormal search behaviors and, if found, will trigger immediate, automatic lockouts and immediate reporting.

As a department, we have put in place our own internal audits done by the Chief of Police and Command Staff. On a monthly basis, we audit a random sample of Officers, and a quarterly audit is done on all Officers that have search capabilities. We have also restricted the search capabilities of the system to Officers with an investigative role; not every Patrol Officer has search capabilities on the Flock system.

We continue to hold our officers to the absolute highest ethical and professional standards. Abuse or misuse of this technology will not be tolerated. Any violation of our strict usage policies will result in immediate termination of system access and swift disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and legal prosecution."