A license plate reader on a pole near City Hall in downtown Louisville.(Jacob Ryan / LPM)The Louisville Metro Police Department detective who faced discipline earlier this year after sharing his Flock credentials with a federal agent for unauthorized immigration-related searches is once again under internal investigation for potential misuse of the city’s license plate reader system.LMPD Chief Paul Humphrey opened the investigation last week to find out why Det. Wesley Troutman allegedly used the department’s Flock system to search for a vehicle assigned to an LMPD employee, according to records obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.A police spokesperson declined to provide additional details of the ongoing Professional Standards Unit investigation that aims to determine if Troutman broke any department policies.Troutman’s use of the agency’s license plate reader system sparked a separate investigation last year year after KyCIR revealed his name was associated with dozens of immigration-related searches of the Flock network. Police investigators found Troutman shared his login credentials with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent who ultimately conducted the searches. That Professional Standards investigation led to a two-day suspension for Troutman, a five-day suspension for Lt. Jeremy Ruoff, and Nicholas Owen was demoted from assistant chief to lieutenant, according to police records.Troutman is not the first LMPD employee to come under investigation for problematic Flock searches. In April 2025, a Jefferson County grand jury indicted former LMPD officer Robert Cedeno — who used the department’s license plate reader system to keep tabs on his ex-partner’s vehicle — on multiple charges, including stalking and harassment. And last week, an officer with the Shively Police Department was criminally charged for allegedly using that department’s Flock system to track and harass a woman over the course of months.License plate readers are under intense scrutiny across the country over concerns about surveillance and police misuse. The Institute for Justice, a Washington D.C.-based civil liberty advocacy group, has catalogued more than 180 instances of police across the country misusing license plate readers — from officers using the cameras to stalk women and track activists to illegal searches and conflicts of interest. Some cities have stopped using the technology that captures photos of passing vehicles and stores the information in a database accessible to police nationwide.In Louisville, police chief Humphrey recently doubled down on his support for the technology, calling it “an amazing tool that has changed policing for us.”Hundreds of Flock cameras are spread across the city. LMPD won’t say where, exactly, the cameras are located. Police officials say doing so would embolden would-be criminals and expose the cameras to vandals. Last month, police in Louisville arrested a man for allegedly shooting and stealing Flock cameras.The letter Humphrey sent to Professional Standards investigators to initiate the inquiry into Troutman centers on searches “on or about” Jan. 9, 2025 and Nov. 12, 2024. Humphrey directed investigators to examine the timeframe of the searches and the “reason for the searches” that Troutman entered into the Flock system.On Jan. 9, 2025, Troutman conducted six searches of the department’s Flock system and listed drug investigations as the reason, according to records previously obtained by KyCIR that detail LMPD’s use of its license plate reader network. On Nov. 12, Troutman conducted eight searches and the listed reason for each relates to drug investigations. ...read more read less