3 Gwinnett County police officers fired, arrested in investigation into Flock camera misuse
The Gwinnett County Police Department has fired and arrested three officers as part of an investigation into the misuse of the county's Flock license plate cameras.
In a release on Friday, authorities say they arrested Renee Downer in May, charging her with simple battery and stalking. The agency also arrested Derric Holmes and Matthew Lau, charging the former officers with six counts and one count of misuse of license plate data, respectively.
The investigation remains ongoing and officials say there may be additional charges to come.
The police department says that it gained access to Flock's auditing system in June, allowing them to examine individual's search activity.
After the arrests, the Gwinnett County Police Department has made changes to how its officers access the license plate camera system.
"Now, when a search is needed, a justification must be provided to a direct supervisor, who will evaluate the request and conduct the search if appropriate," the department said in a press release. "The department has also mandated all officers to undergo retraining on the use of the Flock system and is reducing the retention period for Flock data from 30 days to 15 days."
The agency said its officers will still receive Flock alerts related to vehicles that are allegedly associated with criminal activity, and searches for missing and endangered persons, as well as "other public safety concerns."
Despite public concerns about safety and misuse, the police department said that the Flock system has been important in helping identify vehicles connected with serious crimes, such as homicides and kidnappings, as well as helping find individuals with dementia and other missing person.
"We understand why the public expects us to closely monitor who accesses this technology and how it is being used," said Gwinnett County Police Chief J.D. McClure. "When we identified misuse, we immediately acted and made significant changes to limit access and strengthen oversight. Flock is an extremely important crime fighting tool and misuse of this technology will not be tolerated. We will continue to evaluate our safeguards while making sure our officers and detectives have access to technology that has helped us solve violent crimes and locate people in danger."
