6 former Savannah police employees under criminal investigation over alleged Flock camera misuse

Our Take

Courier Georgia's reporting on the Savannah Police Department is exactly the kind of story we warned you'd start seeing more of once these camera networks scaled up nationwide. Four officers and two other former employees allegedly turned a public safety tool into a personal lookup service, running plates on family members and acquaintances. That's not a hypothetical "what if someone misuses this" scenario anymore — it's an actual criminal investigation.

Flock and its police customers love to tout audit logs and "every search must have a reason" policies as the safeguard against exactly this kind of abuse. Savannah is a reminder that a policy on paper does nothing if nobody's actually reviewing the logs until a complaint forces the issue, and even then the misuse can go on for a while before anyone notices. Departments across the country are buying these systems on the promise of accountability that, in practice, seems to rely almost entirely on trusting the people with access not to abuse it.

This is why we keep pushing for transparency before deployment, not after a scandal. If your town already has these cameras, or is about to, find out on our map and push your local officials for real audit requirements and public reporting, not just vendor talking points. Check our take-action page for ways to get involved before the next "former employee under investigation" headline is about your department.