July 17, 2026

Stow, Mass. officer used Flock cameras and state databases to track ex-partner who fled abusive relationship

On July 17, 2026, the Stow Police Department filed a criminal complaint against Officer Jason Rogers after a four-week internal-affairs investigation found he used the Flock camera system and the state's CJIS and CORI databases multiple times in 2024 and 2025 to locate a woman who had ended their relationship years earlier. The woman said the relationship had been abusive and that she had changed her identity, phone number, and social-media habits after leaving; she has since obtained a restraining order against Rogers that she said will remain in place for at least a year. Rogers was placed on paid administrative leave and then, on July 31, 2026, unpaid leave pending a Select Board hearing on his employment status.

Part of: Police Using License-Plate Camera Networks to Stalk

Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Location: Stow, Massachusetts

Abuses documented

Actors

Jason Rogers (Stow Police Department officer)

On July 17, 2026, the Stow, Massachusetts Police Department filed a criminal complaint against Officer Jason Rogers, citing "potential violations of state law." The filing followed a four-week internal-affairs investigation that found Rogers had used the department's Flock Safety license-plate-reader camera system, as well as the state's Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) and Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) databases, on multiple dates in 2024 and 2025 to locate a woman he had previously dated. The investigation began after the woman herself discovered the searches by checking her license plate against a public Flock search-log lookup tool; the department revoked Rogers's system access within three hours of receiving her complaint and placed him on paid administrative leave, which became unpaid leave on July 31, 2026.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had ended her relationship with Rogers about five years earlier, that the relationship had been abusive, and that she changed her identity, phone number, and social-media habits after leaving specifically to get away from him. She has since obtained a restraining order against Rogers that she said will remain in place for at least the next year. Investigators found Rogers responsible for conduct unbecoming an officer, improper use of his official position, failure to comply with written orders, and logging false reasons for his database searches. Stow Police Chief Michael J. Sallese said, "Using that access for a personal purpose is a serious violation of that trust, and it is a crime." The criminal complaint was forwarded to the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office, and the department applied for criminal charges against Rogers over his access to the criminal offender database specifically. Stow police also ended the town's contract with Flock Safety and removed its cameras.

Updates

2026-08-26 — Rogers resigned hours before his termination hearing [3]

Jason Rogers resigned from the Stow Police Department on August 26, 2026, before a termination hearing scheduled that day before the town's Select Board. Police Chief Michael J. Sallese and Town Administrator Denise M. Dembkoski said they would not comment further on the case, calling it a personnel matter. The department said it had asked the state's Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission to decertify Rogers.

Why we recorded this

Officers are trusted with license-plate camera networks and criminal-justice databases to serve the public, not to hunt down people who have escaped them. An internal-affairs investigation found that Stow, Massachusetts officer Jason Rogers used the Flock camera system and the state's CJIS and CORI databases multiple times in 2024 and 2025 to locate a woman who had ended their relationship years earlier, called it abusive, and changed her identity specifically to escape him; she now holds a restraining order against him. This archive records the event because it is a severe instance of a recurring failure mode: standing law-enforcement database access went unchecked until the target's own initiative, not any system safeguard, surfaced the misuse.

Sources

Stow police officer accused of misusing Flock system to track former partner — Boston 25 News primary accessed September 4, 2026
Stow police department cuts ties with Flock Safety after determining officer used system to find personal info, officials say — The Boston Globe primary accessed September 4, 2026
Stow police officer who allegedly misused Flock technology resigns before termination hearing — The Boston Globe primary accessed September 4, 2026