Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Police Officer Misused Flock Camera to Track Ex: Prosecutor

Episode Date: September 4, 2026

Asad Zahir has resigned from his position as a police officer in Shively, Kentucky, after being charged with misdemeanors related to an allegation that he used the Flock Safety system to search for a woman's car. A citation claims Zahir searched for the woman's registration more than 2,000 times in 2026. The document says the woman was the mother of Zahir's child and that she had been granted a protection order against him in Indiana. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the case and how Zahir was caught in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guests: Sgt. Jordan Brown https://www.facebook.com/ShivelyPD911Chief Deputy Alex Payne https://www.facebook.com/bullittsheriff CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Van DinhGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Just letting you know, I'm hit to jail right now. A man in handcuffs, but he's not just another man. He's a police officer accused of abusing his access to cameras to track his ex. I have all of the details. I'm Ann Janette Levy, and this is crime fix. Police officers take an oath to protect and serve. They raise their right hand and swear to uphold the law, but they're human. And sometimes those same officers are accused.

of breaking the very laws they swore to enforce. And there's a police officer in Kentucky accused of doing just that with a piece of technology that's been in the news a lot lately. First off, the officer's name Assad Zahir. He worked at the Shively Police Department outside of Louisville, Kentucky. Officer Zahir is accused of misusing the flock safety system. Flock might sound familiar to you. That name has been in the news a lot. The company's AI technology is under heavy scrutiny. It includes camera systems that read license plates. Law enforcement across the country has been using flock cameras to solve crimes. The cameras can capture images of vehicles, including license plates, and that information is helpful sometimes when solving crimes. But what happens

when that crime fighting and solving technology is misused or abused? Well, then there's a problem. And police in Shively Kentucky say, that happened with one of their own, Assad Zahir. Officer Zahir is facing criminal charges related to his alleged misuse of the flock system at the police department. A uniform citation states, on August 24th, 2026, block safety enabled an AI-powered audit tool, which was immediately activated. The tool flagged searches conducted by Zahir between January 1st, 2026, and May 2nd. 2, 26. A review revealed Zahir searched Kentucky registration, which was redacted, 1,254 times and 794 times, totaling 2,048 searches. Both registrations belong to a person whose name is redacted, but is the mother of Zahir's child. The woman was also the petitioner in an Indiana Emergency Protection Order against

Zahir, effective April 17, 2026 through May 7, 26. Zahir conducted 241 searches during the EPO period. Zahir listed drugs slash narcotics investigation as the reason for the searches. There is no known narcotics investigation involving the person whose name is redacted. The findings were presented to the district court prosecutor who recommended an arrest warrant. Zahir was taken into custody. at the Shively Police Department and lodged at the LMDC. So on August 25th, the police chief told officers to hear that he was being suspended. Take a look.

I'll serve you with the suspension. So I'm going to ask you right now to hang it over your firearm and your badge if you have it. Okay. Okay. And I'll explain. Yeah, they're in the car. Where's your, do you get your firearm? Yes, it's in the car. order your keys.

You don't have your gun? I just took it off. Okay. All right. I'll get that in a second. I'll see it back now. I'll read it just to... Folks,

this is to advise you that your police powers are hereby suspended until further notice for the following reason. And the reason is to be able to pardoning the charge. general record. You're going to hear about in order not to initiate any police action until such time as you are able to return to your regular activities. It's not something that is fun to do

or that we want to do. But you can explain to you why this is, why does this happen? At one point during the conversation between Zahir, the chief, and the detective, they referenced threatening comments regarding a prior investigation. Zahir is told that he is being charged with official misconduct and unlawful access of a computer. You know, we asked, we tried to ask for this just to be a summons. The chief did, I did. So I've got to go to the jail? I'm going to call down there and let them know and try to get you in a different way.

And they were hard pressed on a warrant. I mean, we tried to try to make it a summons, but that's something that's not in our control. So what does all this mean? What are you asking? I don't know what you mean by that. Like, so I know there's these searches, but I can explain and also verify most of these for what they were. Now is not going to be the time to do that. Right.

So five counts of official misconduct first, then five counts of unlawful access? They did five counts instead of 2048. They just did one for each month. did one for each month. And like are these felonies? Misdemeanors. You're good if I go with the paperwork knocked out. Um, yeah, I can give you my keys. Uh, can I get all my personal belongings? I won't, I mean... What are you talking about? Yeah, what do you have in? They're like phones and stuff like that's fine, but... I mean, I've got a lot of personal stuff in the car. Well, wait, you know, I don't want to take that down there with you. No, no, no, I was going to see if

can somebody come in. We'll, we'll figure that out. We'll work that out. There's paperwork to finish and some other things to take care of before the officer prepares to take Assad Zahir to jail. Zahir spends the ride to the jail on the phone. It appears he's talking to a family member or a friend. Okay. This is stupid questions. I don't even know the answer to this. am I going to get like a bail and a court date or I don't know man I mean honestly I wouldn't be surprised if you just got ROR I mean you're not a flight risk you're not anything like that I don't see where they would I don't know we really tried to push for a summons but they weren't hearing it so I'd like to bring in sergeant jordan brown he's the public information officer with the shively police department

Sergeant Brown, thank you so much for coming on. You're welcome. When did you all first notice that something wasn't quite right with officers here's use of the flock system? So on Monday the 24th, we received an email from flock safety announcing that they had rolled out a new automated AI powered audit tool that is continually combing searches and determining if any searches appear unusual as compared. to what normal searches are. And it immediately flagged a pattern of searches that needed further investigation to determine if they were proper with the system. And so were you able to track that pretty quickly because it appeared that he was arrested,

you know, according to the body worn camera footage the next day. So, you know, that was a day. It didn't take you long. It appeared to, you know, look into this. Yes. Like I said, the tool immediately flagged the, searches. From the time that we received the email from flock safety until we activated the search and actually noticed these flag searches was maybe one or two hours, we were able to look at them

pretty quickly and determine that they were improper based not only upon the search reason, but just the sheer volume of numbers that were of the searches and the target of who the searches actually were. How does Shively PD use the flock system? I mean, is it just to read license plates or, I mean, is it, are you guys able to access, you know, the license plate reading system, wherever flock cameras are in use? I mean, how does that work? So our primary use and the proper usage of it is to aid in criminal investigations. And it's a very great tool.

So typical uses are it tracks anytime a stolen vehicle enters our jurisdiction. It tracks for vehicles that are associated with missing, missing persons, sex offenders. and various other types of alerts that we receive. As far as investigations, we use them for any type of investigation, essentially something from a hit and run to a homicide. We've actually recovered a child that was the subject of an Amber alert because the system alerted us. We've solved fatal hit and runs,

specifically one of a special needs child using the system. So its typical daily use can really vary from something as small a hit and run to solving a murder. Wow. You know, these things have been in the news a lot lately. A lot of municipalities are stopping or ceasing or pausing the use of the flock system. There's concern that, you know, it can be abused and misused. So what is Shively PD's response to that?

You know, we recognize definitely both sides of the issue. But for us, it's just a very valuable tool. when properly used. And that's where we hold ourselves accountable. That's why we have a strong auditing process now to make sure that it is being used for legitimate law enforcement purposes. And like I said, when it is used properly, it's a huge benefit. It's a tool that we didn't have before that really leads to a lot of extra evidence and

extra set of eyes to help us close a lot of these types of cases. When somebody wants to access the system to, look up a license plate or to access it to do whatever it is police officers do with this system. Do you have to have probable cause? I mean, what is the guideline that you employ for use of the system? So our policy, it needs to be related to a criminal investigation, some sort of manner in which it is. You know, this can be from, like I said, trying to track down the description or the plate of a hit-and-run vehicle. So we really just make sure that it aligns with a proper usage, something that is related to a legitimate law enforcement purpose.

So you don't have to have probable cause per se. It just has to be related to an investigation, an open pending investigation. Yes, that's correct. Does the officer have to document when they're accessing the system or does the audit softensual? where just keep track of that for you. So it's kind of a multi-tiered process. Anytime an officer before they can make a search, they have to enter a valid case number in, and this just gives us something to track that the usage was proper.

The system is continually monitoring the audit assist tool 24-7. And under our policy, the supervisors are required to go into the system once a week, check for any flags for anyone within their realm of supervision. And if anything's flagged by the system is unusual, they need to manually go in and review these searches. This can be looking at the case number to determine if the search actually aligned with what the case was. This can be speaking to the officer themselves to gather more information. And once these searches are determined to be valid and aligned with policy and what the case is,

they enter notes into the system that documents what steps specifically they took to determine the validity of the search. and anything that's found to be even remotely questionable is forwarded up the chain of command for further investigation to determine if there's more that needs to be done, whether it be an administrative investigation or a criminal investigation. So there are checks and balances in place to make sure that the system is being used as it should be, that searches are being documented, and if there's a human process of review of these automated flags. The audit software is what actually caught officers here. because according to the uniform citation, he was using this software before that audit software was implemented or put into use.

So he was allegedly misusing it before that time. So, you know, I mean, how often do you think this was happening before you implemented the use of that software? Or was he the only one caught up in that once you started using it? So at this point, you know, when this tool was rolled out, it obviously flagged the search very quickly. It's a new tool to us, and that in and of itself raised great concerns. Now that we have this tool, we are in the process of going back through prior searches to determine if there is any other misuse. That process is still ongoing, but at this time, it appears that he's the main one who misused this system. So Officer Zuhir was charged quickly with,

these misdemeanor charges of, you know, misconduct in office and then misusing a computer. Where does the case stand in the process now? We know he was picked up and then taken to jail, probably made an initial appearance, posted bail, et cetera. So, you know, one thing I kind of want to go back to is that when we discover these improper searches, this was something that we knew we needed to move very quickly on within the time that we discovered these searches until the time he was arrested. arrested was less than 24 hours. So that was something that we recognized that we needed to move

quickly on. He was obviously charged with this. And the court process is ongoing at this time. His next court date is in October. Is he going to be fired? Because this seems like there's no coming back from this. He was immediately at the time suspended without pay. Since then, he has submitted his letter of resignation. All right. Well, Sergeant Brown, thank you so much. for joining me. I really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure speaking with you. You're welcome. Thank you. Here's a look at officers here arriving at the jail. Hey, where's your rice left? It's in the little small trunk, my thing. In the trunk. In the trunk. Like the thing under the floor? Yeah. Like the thing under the

floor? Yeah. Like the thing under the floor? I see. Go to be there you and one. I need some medical premiums. I would like to turn now to Alex Payne. He is the chief deputy of the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Thank you so much. Chief Deputy Payne for joining me. I appreciate it. Glad to be here. You're welcome. You know, Chief Deputy Payne, these flock safety cameras, the flock safety system, this whole thing about AI. It's been in the news a lot lately. We have a lot of municipalities and departments discontinuing the use of this technology. What are your thoughts on that? Well, it's a shame because the technology itself is such a, well, in my career, in the 43 years that I've been in law enforcement, it's probably the best investigative tool that I've seen come around, plain and simple. You know, do you understand the concerns that people have about, you know, law enforcement may be having unfettered access to people's license plates? I mean, we have this case in Shively in Kentucky where a police officer is accused of misusing this technology in order to track his acts. And that's pretty scary.

Yeah, you know, and I get that. And but, you know, I don't necessarily look at that as a bad thing. And here's why. You know, this guy needed to be arrested. This guy needed to go to jail. This guy committed crimes. this guy does not need to be in the law enforcement profession. So whether it's flock or anything, whatever it may be that basically he rises to the top,

gains our attention and is put where he needs to be, I don't look at that as a bad thing. You know, I mean, you know, there's tons of things people can, you know, abuse or get them into trouble that can get him fired, arrested, you know, what have you. You know, flock's no different, you know, in that. respect. And the kicker with this guy, he knew what he was doing was wrong. And he chose to do it anyway. And so for him to be out of this profession, I think is a good thing. Well, I think that you're right about that. But the concerns about the technology being misused, obviously, you know, it's a good thing that Shively implemented the day they received it, the audit software that flock sent out. So the audit software worked and it caught, you know, caught the alarm. You know, caught the

alleged misuse of the software of the program. So, but, you know, it just makes you wonder how many other officers Zahir's could be out there. And is every department using the technology, is every department using the technology using the audit software? You would certainly hope so. Yes. You know, like, for example, we do. And I would, and as these things come out and say, you know, departments that have been using the software correctly and maybe haven't activated, you know, that audit portion of that, they'll do it now, you know, because of this particular case. So, you know, it's new still, you know, it's license plate readers have been around for a long time. But this, as far as flock, you know, is still, you know, growing, you know, across and they're learning

about it. And so as things like this happen, and they're going to happen, you know, you're going to have bad eggs do stupid stuff. You know, law enforcement is no different than any other profession across this country. You know, you've got people that don't belong in it. You know, they probably belong in jail or in, you know, doing something else. And, you know, in that respect, if, you know, we, as it grows and we learn about the checks and balances of this system to where we can keep its utilization and based on doing the right thing day in, day out, and the people that are using it or using it in

accordance with their policies and procedures, and they're not doing it for nefarious reasons, you know, that's a good thing. And, you know, I just don't, you know, you'll get these occurrences that are going to happen. But if you look at the millions and millions of times that this system is used properly compared to those times when these nefarious actors use it, you know, I'll take that. How many cases do you guys think that you've used in Bullitt County to, you know, find the bad guy, you know, crack the keys. How many times do you think you've used this flock system? I can tell you one right off the bat.

And I mean, it was absolutely amazing. We had just started with flock. Matter of fact, I think we had, well, we had at least one camera, maybe two at the time. And we actually had a double homicide in 2022 where this man basically execution style killed two young women. And it just so happened that the car. he used came across one of the two flock cameras that we had, which led us to him. And he was arrested and convicted. That, to me, is, that's gold. You know, that's, that's, you found the killer, you know, of two, two innocent women. It has assisted us in locating a suspect that drove

from Pennsylvania all the way here to Kentucky, abducted a female juvenile. and transported her out of state where she was raped before being located. And we finally located him with the help of our federal partners and he was arrested. But flocked helped us in that. It's helped us in child abuse cases. We had a suspect that we had been following that we had located for actually stealing or burglary charges. And then we found child sexual abuse material in the course of that.

that investigation there. We've had organized mail thefts that have been solved because of this technology. We've had dump truck thefts across the county that we've solved because of this technology. And the list literally would go on and on. I mean, it's, so it's, we actually had a shooting in another county. Now that I think about it, we had in Jefferson County in Louisville, there was an individual who shot someone at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant and some people there. were able to identify his car. They didn't get his plate, but they identified his car. That car came into Bullock County and we actually stopped him and arrested him. So it's just, it's invaluable. Well, we will keep an eye on this issue. We appreciate you joining us, Chief Deputy Payne. Thank you so much.

No problem, ma'am. You have a good day. Asad Zahir has resigned, as you heard Sergeant Brown say earlier, and he'll be back in court in October. We'll keep an eye on this case and let you know what happens. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.