A Georgia police officer was fired after an internal investigation found she shared access to a license plate-reading system with her husband, who works for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), amid scrutiny over law enforcement's use of the surveillance technology. Former Savannah Police Department officer Amber Harpe was one of six department employees terminated following an investigation into the misuse of the department's Flock Safety License Plate Reader system.
According to the department, its investigation uncovered an instance in which an officer provided access to the system to someone from an "outside law enforcement agency." Harpe was not subsequently arrested over the incident. An independent investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) resulted in four of the six former employees being arrested in August, but Harpe was not one of those charged. The Savannah Police Department launched an internal investigation on July 27 after a review of activity on its Flock Safety system identified searches that appeared unrelated to legitimate law enforcement work.
Six employees, comprising four police officers and two civilian staff members, were initially placed on administrative leave. Harpe admitted to giving her Savannah Police Department Flock username and password to her husband, an ICE agent who didn’t have his own access to the system through his federal job, according to records obtained by a local news outlet. Savannah Police Department confirmed to Newsweek that Harpe's husband was not authorized access to the system.
"Unauthorized access to police technology by anyone is a breach of Savannah Police Department policy and public trust," the department's Public Safety Communications Manager, Neil Penttila, said. "In this case, SPD determined that department policy was violated and terminated the employee. An outside law enforcement agency’s investigative purpose does not, by itself, authorize access to SPD’s system." The department ultimately determined all six employees had violated policies controlling the authorized use of law enforcement technology and departmental resources, and announced their termination on August 7.
Gunther said when the investigation was announced that officers are entrusted with powerful investigative technology on the understanding that it will be used "lawfully, ethically, and only for legitimate public safety purposes." Flock Safety's technology allows police departments to use automated cameras to capture and search vehicle license plate information. Georgia law defines an automated license plate recognition (ALPR) system as "one or more high-speed cameras combined with computer algorithms used to convert images of license plates into computer-readable data." The state law allows law enforcement agencies to collect this data but says it shouldn’t be accessed unless it’s for a law enforcement purpose. The technology forms a significant part of Savannah's policing infrastructure.
The police department says every search on its Flock platform is electronically documented, including the user, time, date, and stated reason for carrying out the search. Other safeguards include mandatory training, role-based access, supervisory oversight and compliance reviews. While the six cases were referred by the Savannah Police Department to the GBI for an independent criminal investigation, only four former employees were identified by the GBI as arrested on August 21.
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