Overview
- State and local probes announced July 19–20 led to new arrests and terminations, including former DeKalb Sgt. Kabiru Salawu and three Richmond County deputies — Lt. John McKenzie, Investigator Curtis Hoskins and Deputy Joshua Johnson — who were charged with misuse of the Flock system and violation of their oaths.
- Agencies say internal audits and Flock’s immutable query logs flagged repeated, unauthorized searches that exposed a pattern of officers using the system for personal reasons rather than legitimate law‑enforcement purposes.
- Reporting shows at least a dozen Georgia officers have been fired or arrested in recent weeks for similar conduct, with other cases in Cherokee, Albany, Greene, Fayetteville and additional counties under active review by local agencies and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
- The revelations have prompted municipalities and police departments to pause or review vendor agreements, demand stricter contract terms on data access and ownership, and consider new oversight or transparency rules for automated license‑plate readers.
- Civil‑liberties groups and officials say the cases highlight privacy and accuracy risks from vehicle‑tracking networks, and the investigations could lead to policy changes, prosecutions, and narrower legal limits on who may search plate‑reader databases.