A Hall County Sheriff's Office investigator has been fired after officials say he ran unauthorized searches through the agency's Flock license plate reader system, becoming the latest Georgia law enforcement employee swept up in a statewide reckoning over camera misuse. Justin Brown, who had worked for the sheriff's office since December 2022, was let go after an internal review found he violated policy through a series of Flock system searches that had no legitimate law enforcement purpose.
Brown, an investigator with the department, used the technology to conduct unauthorized searches involving at least two tag numbers, according to the Hall County Sheriff's Office, as reported by CBS News Atlanta. HCSO Major Brad Parks said the firing is an embarrassment to the sheriff's office, and added that improper Flock use increases mistrust between the public and law enforcement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is now reviewing the matter for possible criminal charges.
Hall County says it will continue auditing its Flock system and staff usage, and remains committed to using the technology only for legitimate law enforcement purposes. That pledge echoes similar statements from agencies across the state, where a wave of internal reviews has been uncovering officer misconduct for months.
A Statewide Wave of Firings and Arrests
Brown's firing is only the newest entry in what has become a rapidly expanding accountability effort across Georgia law enforcement. Just five days earlier, Hoodline reported that a second Habersham County deputy was fired and arrested for similar conduct, and Hoodline also detailed how the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office saw four deputies arrested and terminated between June and August after internal audits by its Real-Time Intelligence Division revealed a pattern of unauthorized Flock database queries on colleagues and acquaintances. In response, Cherokee County updated its Flock policy to require mandatory user certification, tighter access controls, and bi-annual audits.
The pattern extends well beyond north Georgia. In late August, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested four former Savannah Police Department employees — three officers and one civilian specialist — after an internal system audit uncovered unauthorized Flock searches, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Those Savannah employees were booked into Chatham County Jail on charges of misusing a license plate reader system and violating their oath of office. Weeks earlier, five Albany, Georgia police officers were terminated and arrested by the GBI after an internal audit tool exposed misuse, marking, per a GlobeNewswire release, the first publicly confirmed instance where the vendor's audit feature surfaced police misconduct.
Not every agency has referred cases for criminal prosecution. The DeKalb County Police Department confirmed in August that eight officers were suspended for 16 to 80 hours following internal policy violations without facing criminal charges, WSB-TV reported, with Police Chief Gregory Padrick confirming the suspensions after internal reviews flagged unauthorized searches. The contrast underscores how discipline for Flock misuse has varied significantly from agency to agency depending on the severity of findings.
What Georgia Law Says About Misusing the System
Under Georgia Code § 35-1-22, automated license plate reader data may only be collected and accessed for official law enforcement purposes, making unauthorized personal queries a high and aggravated misdemeanor. Public officers who violate their oath face separate felony charges under § 16-10-1, carrying one to five years in prison. Georgia enacted that statutory framework under House Bill 79 in 2018 to regulate Flock access while allowing data retention for up to 30 months.
The sudden surge in exposed misconduct traces back to a specific technical change. On August 13, Atlanta-based Flock Safety announced mandatory platform changes — including an automated audit tool that flags abnormal search behavior and locks out accounts under review — following widespread reports of officers misusing its system for personal stalking and unauthorized lookups, according to Recorded Future News. The company, which operates over 120,000 cameras across 5,000 U.S. communities, had previously made audit features optional for its law enforcement clients.
Balancing Public Safety Against Privacy Concerns
Major Parks maintains that Flock remains a valuable tool for catching criminals, pointing to the case of murder suspect Antwane Thurmond, whom the system helped law enforcement apprehend. Thurmond was captured on July 23 at an Augusta motel following a weeklong multi-agency manhunt tied to the fatal shooting of a woman outside an Oakwood convenience store, with Richmond County SWAT and federal task forces making the arrest in connection with the July 16 shooting death of his former girlfriend, Tia Keith, per FOX 5 Atlanta.
But critics point to data suggesting the technology's rapid expansion hasn't translated into better outcomes overall. Despite metro Atlanta's surveillance network growing to over 5,000 Flock cameras by 2026, FBI clearance data analyzed in July showed Atlanta Police Department crime solve rates for homicides, rapes, and robberies remained largely flat or declined compared to 2021 levels, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The paper found APD's homicide clearance rate fell from 53.4% in 2021 to 48.0% in 2025, while robbery clearance rates remained virtually unchanged at around 25%.
Public frustration with the expanding camera networks has occasionally turned physical. In North Georgia, a Lumpkin County Sheriff's camera in Yahoola Creek Park was cut down and hidden in the woods, prompting Sheriff Stacy Jarrard to offer a $1,000 reward, CBS News reported. Jarrard said the camera had been installed in the park to track registered sex offenders. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Atlanta, Flock Safety now operates in over 5,000 communities across 49 states, running machine-learning software that performs more than 20 billion vehicle plate scans monthly.
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