A Clayton County Sheriff's Office deputy turned himself in to face charges of misusing a license plate reader system, becoming the latest officer swept up in a statewide reckoning over how Georgia law enforcement personnel have been using Flock Safety cameras. Errol Farrell Jr., a 40-year-old deputy from Lithonia, was booked into the Clayton County Jail on September 1 after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested him on the misuse charge.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, state investigators say Farrell used the Flock Safety license plate reader system for non-law-enforcement purposes. The Clayton County Sheriff's Office itself asked the GBI to investigate the alleged misuse of its Flock system, and the case originated from that internal request. Investigators have not disclosed when the system was misused or whose license plates were searched, and Farrell's current employment status with the sheriff's office remains unclear, per the same report.
Flock Safety cameras are used by law enforcement agencies across Georgia to track license plates and alert officers to stolen vehicles or wanted suspects. Georgia state law limits access to those automated systems strictly to official law enforcement duties, and unauthorized searches are a criminal offense in the state. Once the GBI completes its investigation, the agency will turn the case file over to the Clayton County District Attorney's Office for prosecution.
A Statewide Pattern of Database Abuse
Farrell's arrest lands squarely inside a much larger enforcement wave rippling across Georgia law enforcement this year. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-1-22, unauthorized license plate reader searches carry a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and 12 months in county lockup, according to The Auto Wire. But sworn officers who misuse the systems while on duty are routinely charged with an additional felony — violation of oath of office under O.C.G.A. § 16-10-1 — which can carry one to five years in prison, as Hoodline has reported.
The surge in audits traces back to Flock Safety's mid-2026 rollout of a new automated audit tool that flags irregular search patterns and prompts departments to review their own officers' query logs. That technological trigger set off a cascade of internal reviews across the state. CBS News reported in July that personnel across at least 17 Georgia law enforcement agencies had already been arrested, terminated, investigated, or disciplined for improperly accessing license plate data for personal reasons, with audits revealing officers had queried the system to track romantic partners and acquaintances.
Other Arrests Hit the Same Day
Farrell's booking was far from an isolated event. On the very same day, GBI agents arrested Georgia Department of Corrections Special Agent in Charge Robert “Bobby” Michael Keim, 45, in Putnam County on a license plate reader misuse charge, after the Department of Corrections asked the GBI on August 18 to investigate whether Keim had accessed the agency's Flock system for non-law enforcement purposes, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
The Richmond County Sheriff's Office also arrested and fired Investigator Sean Morrow and Deputy Jose Ferrer that day for allegedly using the Flock system for personal reasons, charging both with LPR misuse and felony violation of oath of office. Sheriff Eugene Brantley confirmed both deputies had violated departmental policy and their oath of office. Separately, three Hall County Sheriff's Office deputies resigned during an internal audit after accessing or requesting unauthorized Flock searches involving personal acquaintances.
Earlier Purges Set the Precedent
Georgia's reckoning over Flock misuse didn't start this week. Earlier internal audits led the GBI to arrest four former Savannah Police Department employees and prompted the Albany Police Department to fire five officers for repeatedly accessing retained Flock data without an official purpose, as detailed in prior Hoodline coverage of the scandal's growth. The misuse hasn't been confined to patrol deputies, either — the Auto Wire reported that the GBI arrested Paulding County 911 Director Heidi Taylor on two misdemeanor counts after an audit found she had queried the Dallas Police Department's Flock network for non-law-enforcement purposes upwards of 1,200 times.
Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen, whose office requested the GBI probe into Farrell, took office in April 2023 after his predecessor, Victor Hill, was federally convicted on civil rights charges. Allen won reelection in a 2024 runoff with 55% of the vote despite public criticism from Hill, his former mentor, a race Hoodline covered at the time.
Anyone with information related to the Farrell case can contact the GBI's Atlanta Regional Investigative Office at 770-388-5019, or submit an anonymous tip to the GBI at 1-800-597-TIPS.
