Former Amarillo Police Officer Charged After Tracking Father 76 Times Using City Surveillance Cameras
Christian Eder, a former Amarillo Police Department officer with tactical SWAT training, faces 78 misdemeanor charges after an internal investigation confirmed he used the city’s Flock camera system to track a civilian father 76 times without any official case or assignment. Prosecutors declined to file felony tracking charges, and Eder was released from Potter County Jail on a single $4,500 bond covering all counts.
The victim learned of the surveillance only after a female Amarillo officer — whom the victim had previously dated and whom Eder had developed a personal interest in — discovered Eder using his department-issued phone off-duty to monitor her live body camera feed. The tracking included repeated automated license plate queries at gas stations, school pickup locations, and daycare centers, along with additional background searches through the TLOXP law enforcement database.
🚨#BREAKING: A father in Amarillo, Texas says he had to MOVE WHERE HIS KIDS SLEEP because a police officer used the city's Flock cameras to STALK him 76 TIMES over a woman the officer wanted for himself…
…prosecutors only gave the cop a MISDEMEANOR and a $4,500 bond.
This… pic.twitter.com/3dJGsqcWAv
— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) September 14, 2026
According to the victim, the intrusion became undeniable when he was informed that Eder had watched him leave his apartment at 1 a.m. The victim texted Eder asking him to stop. Eder’s reply, confirmed by investigators: “lol tough guy, whatever y’all got going on is between y’all. Keep it that way. Have fun my dude.” The message included a smirk emoji.
An internal audit later confirmed 76 Flock camera runs on the victim’s license plate over a four-month period from February to June. When the system prompted Eder to provide a reason for the searches, he typed “city planning” and, dozens of times, simply the word “want.”
The father described the realization that his daily patterns were fully mapped. “For 76 times in Amarillo, Texas, you’re going to know every single thing that I do,” he stated in an interview. “It hit me. This guy knows exactly which way I go.” He added that he was forced to rearrange where his children sleep in the house and change his entire routine. “I’ve had to change everything. It’s emotionally taxing.”
The victim said he requested descriptions of Eder’s personal vehicles from APD detectives so he could watch for potential contact. The department refused, citing safety protocol — even though Eder retained access to the victim’s full background file and residential information through the original searches.
Prosecutors filed 78 counts of tampering with a government record, a misdemeanor under Texas law. The charges classify the City of Amarillo as the official victim, not the targeted father or his children. This designation initially blocked the victim from accessing standard victim services and notification systems. “How, all of a sudden, am I not the victim?” the father asked.
The Amarillo Police Department terminated Eder following the internal affairs investigation. During a subsequent city council briefing, the police chief acknowledged that officers could access the Flock camera system off-duty using their department-issued work phones. He confirmed that the system had no alerts for high-volume queries on a single license plate and that the department’s routine audits had not flagged the 76 searches. The victim was discovered only because the female officer reported Eder’s body camera monitoring.
Flock cameras are automated license plate readers marketed to municipalities as public safety tools. The systems capture and store vehicle movement data across a city, accessible to authorized law enforcement personnel for investigative purposes. Critics argue that without strict oversight and real-time audit alerts, the technology can be easily weaponized for personal vendettas, harassment, and unauthorized surveillance.
The case raises urgent questions about accountability and the potential for abuse when surveillance infrastructure lacks both technical safeguards and serious criminal consequences. A former officer with tactical training and detailed personal intelligence on a civilian family now faces only misdemeanor penalties and a bond amount lower than many DUI arrests.
Under the current charging framework, the father has no legal standing as a crime victim in the case that directly targeted his family’s safety and privacy. Texas law treated the integrity of a government database as more important than the safety of the citizens that database was turned against.
The victim’s cooperation with internal affairs led to Eder’s termination, but the lack of felony charges and the minimal bond leave the family questioning whether the justice system takes technological tracking seriously when the offender wears a badge. Eder’s access to tactical training, department resources, and the victim’s personal data created an asymmetric threat that prosecutors chose to classify as mere paperwork tampering.
Amarillo city leaders have pledged to review Flock camera policies, but no structural changes have been announced. The case serves as a stark reminder that surveillance systems built for public safety can become instruments of private terror when oversight is weak and consequences are light.