A former Barrow County investigator has resigned and turned herself in after a sheriff's office audit flagged months of suspicious searches on the agency's license-plate reading system. Stephanie Howard was charged with violating her oath of office along with offenses tied to collecting, storing, sharing and destroying captured license-plate data for law enforcement.
According to WSB-TV, Howard resigned from her position and voluntarily turned herself in to authorities. The sheriff's office said the case grew out of a self-initiated audit of its use of the Flock system, which identified several suspicious inquiries conducted by Howard over a period lasting approximately six months.
Sheriff Jud Smith initiated an internal investigation after the searches in question were flagged in the audit, aiming to identify any potential policy violations, the station reported. The sheriff's office said it then referred the case to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at its own request. Howard was released on a $7,500 bond following her arrest.
What Remains Unknown
Authorities have not said how many searches were flagged, whose information was accessed, or whether any data was shared with anyone outside the agency, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. Georgia law treats a willful and intentional violation of a public officer's oath as a felony, with the Georgia Senate's own rules document citing a penalty of one to five years in prison upon conviction, per the Georgia General Assembly. That statute describes the range of punishment tied to the charge, not any outcome in Howard's case, which remains pending.
Part Of A Broader Pattern Across Georgia
Howard's case lands amid a wave of similar allegations surfacing across the state. FOX 5 Atlanta has reported that just under 50 incidents of unauthorized Flock access have been disclosed or uncovered across Georgia, with just under 30 of those in metro Atlanta alone. In Gwinnett County, police charged three officers and ended their employment after an audit exposed misuse of the department's Flock system, then required justified search requests to go through supervisors, mandated retraining and cut data retention from 30 days to 15 days.
Four former Savannah Police Department employees were arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on allegations of accessing Flock Safety for non-law-enforcement purposes, according to CBS News Atlanta. A review by the Hall County Sheriff's Office found unauthorized personal use involving seven employees, resulting in three firings and four resignations, Now Georgia reported. In Stephens County, a former deputy named Chrischen Knotts was found to have violated policy by searching his wife's vehicle and listing traffic infraction as the reason, according to Now Georgia. The pattern extends beyond Georgia as well — prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, criminally charged five Indianapolis police officers over alleged misuse of Flock camera access, per the Washington Post.
New Safeguards Taking Shape
Flock itself has begun tightening oversight tools in response to the wave of misuse cases nationwide. The company says law enforcement customers will be required to use its Audit Assistance system, CBS News Atlanta reported. The system is designed to automatically flag unusual search activity. In August, Flock CEO Garrett Langley announced the company is moving toward a seven-day default retention period for license-plate reader data, down from 30 days, while preserving evidence tied to active investigations.
Some local agencies have faced investigations or disciplinary action over Flock use. USA TODAY has reported that more than 20 police agencies nationwide have launched investigations, suspended or fired officers, or filed criminal charges after the outlet began asking about Flock users. A searchable database maintained by DeFlock The USA now contains nearly 6.9 million logged Flock searches pulled from audit logs at eight agencies, spanning May 2021 through August 2026.
