Asad Zahir, a patrol officer in Shively, Kentucky, ran the same two plates 2,048 times in five months — the mother of his child and her family. His stated reason on every search: a drug investigation that investigators say never existed.
241 of those searches came while a protective order was active. Flock Safety’s own AI audit tool flagged the pattern, Shively PD arrested him Tuesday, and Friday he was arraigned — not guilty on all counts: five counts of official misconduct, five counts of violating conditions of release, one count of stalking, one count of retaliation against a participant in a legal process.
Chief Andre Bottoms — three weeks into the job — called the charges a gut punch for the department, and hours after the arraignment announced a complete overhaul of the department’s Flock policy.
He is not rare: the Electronic Frontier Foundation says at least 47 officers have been flagged for misusing license plate readers since 2017. Flock has since cut data retention from 30 days to 12 hours. The system worked here — the question is how many places it doesn’t.
Charges are allegations; Zahir is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise.
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