One Department Found Its Own. The Other One Didn't. | CLT Daily

Description

On Monday we asked a question on this show: these license plate camera systems keep an audit log — who actually reads it? This week, Mooresville answered. A police officer there was arrested Wednesday, accused of using the Flock system 31 times to track her boyfriend's ex-wife. She was caught because Mooresville audits its cameras every month and makes officers write down why they searched. That same audit has now turned up roughly ten more cases to review. Meanwhile in Charlotte, the officer charged last week wasn't caught by an audit at all — a separate investigation three hours away tripped over it. Plus: Queen City Nerve ends its print edition, and the same state commission deciding Duke Energy's rate case in November had its chairman halt 1,760 megawatts of solar with no hearing at all.

CLT Daily — Charlotte's independent daily briefing. New episodes every morning. cltdaily.com

Sources this episode: WFAE, WBTV, WSOC, Queen City Nerve, Southern Environmental Law Center.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Charlotte FC plays again tomorrow night, four days after what they did to one of Mexico's best. Stick around, I'll tell you when. Before any of that, this is CLT Daily. I'm Steve Baboulis. It's Thursday, August 6th, your independent daily briefing for the Queen City. Today, on Monday, I asked a question on this show, and this week answered it. Monday's episode was about a Charlotte Mecklenburg officer charged with misusing flock. The License Plate Camera Network. I told you the national pattern wasn't mass surveillance of strangers. It was individual officers looking up individual people they had a personal reason to find, and I asked what seemed like the obvious question. These systems keep an audit log. Who reads it? Yesterday morning in Mooresville, 30 minutes up 77, an officer named Elizabeth Snowman, reported for her shift and was arrested. Police say she used the flock system to track her boyfriend's ex-wife. Not once. 31 times. Between when she was hired in January of last year and this week. 29 of those she logged as motor vehicle infractions. Two were burglary or robbery. Two happened while she was off duty. She's charged with accessing computers for unauthorized purposes, and she has not been convicted of anything. Now, how did anyone find out? Mooresville audits its license plate cameras every month. Officers have to write down why they searched. Somebody compared what Snowman wrote down to what she actually did, and the two didn't match. That's it. That's the entire mechanism. A monthly review and a required reason. And here's what that monthly review turned up next. Chief Ron Camporsiani says his department is now looking at roughly 10 more cases, three of them he's taking, in his words, a deep look at. Quote. I don't think we are done yet, quite frankly. So think about what we know now. A department in Iredell County looked at its own records on a schedule and found an officer tracking a private citizen through a government camera system, plus three more files worth pulling. Nobody tipped them off. The audit did that. Which brings me back to Charlotte. In the Charlotte case, the misuse wasn't caught by an audit at all. It surfaced because an entirely separate investigation, three hours away in Wadauga County, happened to trip over it. So I'll ask it plainly. Does Charlotte-Mecklenburg run a monthly review with written justifications, the way Mooresville does? I don't know. I've been asking since Monday, and I don't have an answer yet. Two officers in the Charlotte area in eight days. One department found its own. The other one didn't. All right, here's what else you need to know today. Queen City Nerve is ending its print edition. Volume 8, issue 19, went out yesterday, the last one on paper. The website continues. The digital issues continue. The membership program continues. But the stack of free papers you'd grab at a coffee shop in Plaza Midwood, that part is over. If you've read anything good about Charlotte music or local theater in the last several years, there's a you decent chance the nerve paid for it. I won't pretend to be neutral about independent local media in this town. Go read them. Better yet, become a member and a follow to yesterday. I told you the State Utilities Commission decides Duke's rate case in November. Here's something else that commission did. In April, its chairman, William Brawley, on his own, without a hearing, and without taking evidence, ordered Duke to stop buying new solar. About 1,760 megawatts worth, most of what's left of a 2024 order requiring Duke to build 3,460 megawatts by 2031. Four clean energy groups argued yesterday he didn't have the authority to do that alone. Nick Jimenez of the Southern Environmental Law Center put it this way, the chairman has a lot of authority, but the guardrails on it matter too. Same commission, same November, now as promised. Charlotte FC hosts Atlas FC tomorrow at 7.30 at Bank of America Stadium. Four days after beating Liga MX runner-up Pumas 3-0, Pachuca comes Tuesday. And if music's more your thing, the Fray plays Skyla tomorrow. Brian Adams and Pat Benatar are at the Spectrum Center Saturday, and Mumford and Sons close out the weekend there Sunday. Charlotte Pride takes over Uptown a week from tomorrow. That's CLT Daily. For Thursday, August 6th, I'm Steve Baboulis. We'll be back tomorrow, same time, same city. Until then, Charlotte, take care of each other.

Description

CLT Daily — Charlotte's independent daily briefing. New episodes every morning. cltdaily.com

Sources this episode: WFAE, WBTV, WSOC, Queen City Nerve, Southern Environmental Law Center.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Charlotte FC plays again tomorrow night, four days after what they did to one of Mexico's best. Stick around, I'll tell you when. Before any of that, this is CLT Daily. I'm Steve Baboulis. It's Thursday, August 6th, your independent daily briefing for the Queen City. Today, on Monday, I asked a question on this show, and this week answered it. Monday's episode was about a Charlotte Mecklenburg officer charged with misusing flock. The License Plate Camera Network. I told you the national pattern wasn't mass surveillance of strangers. It was individual officers looking up individual people they had a personal reason to find, and I asked what seemed like the obvious question. These systems keep an audit log. Who reads it? Yesterday morning in Mooresville, 30 minutes up 77, an officer named Elizabeth Snowman, reported for her shift and was arrested. Police say she used the flock system to track her boyfriend's ex-wife. Not once. 31 times. Between when she was hired in January of last year and this week. 29 of those she logged as motor vehicle infractions. Two were burglary or robbery. Two happened while she was off duty. She's charged with accessing computers for unauthorized purposes, and she has not been convicted of anything. Now, how did anyone find out? Mooresville audits its license plate cameras every month. Officers have to write down why they searched. Somebody compared what Snowman wrote down to what she actually did, and the two didn't match. That's it. That's the entire mechanism. A monthly review and a required reason. And here's what that monthly review turned up next. Chief Ron Camporsiani says his department is now looking at roughly 10 more cases, three of them he's taking, in his words, a deep look at. Quote. I don't think we are done yet, quite frankly. So think about what we know now. A department in Iredell County looked at its own records on a schedule and found an officer tracking a private citizen through a government camera system, plus three more files worth pulling. Nobody tipped them off. The audit did that. Which brings me back to Charlotte. In the Charlotte case, the misuse wasn't caught by an audit at all. It surfaced because an entirely separate investigation, three hours away in Wadauga County, happened to trip over it. So I'll ask it plainly. Does Charlotte-Mecklenburg run a monthly review with written justifications, the way Mooresville does? I don't know. I've been asking since Monday, and I don't have an answer yet. Two officers in the Charlotte area in eight days. One department found its own. The other one didn't. All right, here's what else you need to know today. Queen City Nerve is ending its print edition. Volume 8, issue 19, went out yesterday, the last one on paper. The website continues. The digital issues continue. The membership program continues. But the stack of free papers you'd grab at a coffee shop in Plaza Midwood, that part is over. If you've read anything good about Charlotte music or local theater in the last several years, there's a you decent chance the nerve paid for it. I won't pretend to be neutral about independent local media in this town. Go read them. Better yet, become a member and a follow to yesterday. I told you the State Utilities Commission decides Duke's rate case in November. Here's something else that commission did. In April, its chairman, William Brawley, on his own, without a hearing, and without taking evidence, ordered Duke to stop buying new solar. About 1,760 megawatts worth, most of what's left of a 2024 order requiring Duke to build 3,460 megawatts by 2031. Four clean energy groups argued yesterday he didn't have the authority to do that alone. Nick Jimenez of the Southern Environmental Law Center put it this way, the chairman has a lot of authority, but the guardrails on it matter too. Same commission, same November, now as promised. Charlotte FC hosts Atlas FC tomorrow at 7.30 at Bank of America Stadium. Four days after beating Liga MX runner-up Pumas 3-0, Pachuca comes Tuesday. And if music's more your thing, the Fray plays Skyla tomorrow. Brian Adams and Pat Benatar are at the Spectrum Center Saturday, and Mumford and Sons close out the weekend there Sunday. Charlotte Pride takes over Uptown a week from tomorrow. That's CLT Daily. For Thursday, August 6th, I'm Steve Baboulis. We'll be back tomorrow, same time, same city. Until then, Charlotte, take care of each other.

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