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Low reported severity Internal Action

Colleton County, South Carolina: a sheriff's lieutenant was fired on 31 August 2026 after the department said the lieutenant ran 62 unauthorized Flock license-plate-reader searches, which an internal audit found included vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances

The Colleton County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina terminated a lieutenant on 31 August 2026 after the department said the lieutenant had conducted 62 unauthorized searches in its Flock license-plate-reader system. According to Live 5 News, an internal audit found that the searches included inquiries on vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and to other acquaintances. Another lieutenant at the same office had been fired earlier that month after an audit revealed more than 2,700 unauthorized Flock searches. The sheriff said he had asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate potential criminal conduct. No charges are reported, and the people searched are not identified.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
31 August 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Justice · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
3 claims: 3 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader system used by the Colleton County Sheriff's Office, South Carolina, searched by the lieutenant through agency access (department statement as reported by Live 5 News)

What Happened

Live 5 News (WCSC) reported on 31 August 2026 that a lieutenant with the Colleton County Sheriff's Office was terminated that day after the department said the lieutenant conducted 62 unauthorized searches using the Flock system. An internal audit found that the searches included inquiries involving vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances. The report says another lieutenant with the same department was fired earlier in the month after an audit revealed more than 2,700 unauthorized searches with the Flock system. The sheriff said he had contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to request an investigation into potential criminal conduct and that he remained committed to the responsible use of the technology. The report does not say when the searches were run, how many concerned the spouse, how many acquaintances were searched or whether any of them knew. The source does not describe the readers as AI.

Reported harm

According to the Colleton County Sheriff's Office as reported by Live 5 News, a lieutenant ran 62 unauthorized Flock license-plate-reader searches, including on vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances.

Outcome

Ongoing

The Colleton County Sheriff's Office terminated the lieutenant on 31 August 2026 after an internal audit. The sheriff said he had contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to request an investigation into potential criminal conduct, and Live 5 News reported that the investigation was active. No charges are reported in the source read.

What remains unknown

  • When the searches were run and how many concerned the spouse.
  • How many acquaintances were searched and who they were.
  • Whether the spouse or the acquaintances knew of the searches or experienced further consequences.
  • Whether the SLED investigation led to charges.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The Colleton County Sheriff's Office, as reported by Live 5 News, says the lieutenant conducted 62 unauthorized searches using the Flock system. The plate-read records were the system's output, and the misuse was a human act. The source does not describe the readers as AI.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The department said the lieutenant conducted 62 unauthorized searches using the Flock system, and an internal audit found the searches included vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances.

Causal attribution. The sheriff's office's internal finding as relayed by one outlet; no audit record was inspected.

  • live5news.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was terminated on August 31 after the department said he conducted 62 unauthorized searches using the Flock system'; 'An internal audit found that the searches included inquiries involving vehicles registered to the lieutenant’s spouse and other acquaintances.'
Reported The lieutenant was terminated on 31 August 2026, and the sheriff said he had asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate potential criminal conduct.

Causal attribution. The sheriff's statement as relayed; the year is the article's publication year.

  • live5news.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was terminated on August 31 after the department said'; 'says he has contacted the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to request an investigation into potential criminal conduct'
Reported Another lieutenant with the same department was fired earlier in August 2026 after an audit revealed more than 2,700 unauthorized Flock searches.

Causal attribution. Live 5 News's recap; context for the audit, and a separate officer whose searches are not described in this source.

  • live5news.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'another lieutenant with the same department was also fired after an audit revealed he made more than 2,700 unauthorized searches with the Flock system'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-05 (live; Live 5 News, WCSC; published 31 August 2026). Relays the sheriff's office statement. Applies to s1.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The lieutenant worked for the Colleton County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina and searched that agency's Flock system (Live 5 News). The people searched are not identified and their residences are not stated, so affected_person_countries is left unknown. No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-05: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional privacy case, consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows: the Colleton County Sheriff's Office, as reported by Live 5 News, fired a lieutenant after the department said the lieutenant ran 62 unauthorized Flock searches, which an internal audit found included vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances. The finding is an internal determination; no charges are reported. The automated readers generated the plate-read records; the misuse is recorded as a human act. Neither the lieutenant nor the people searched are named here.

People described

The lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances of the lieutenant, none identified

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One counted person, the lieutenant's spouse, plus an unstated number of 'other acquaintances' whose vehicles were also searched (Live 5 News, 31 August 2026). Partial: minimum 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#flock#alpr#license-plate-reader#police-misuse#south-carolina#colleton-county#internal-audit#termination

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Colleton County, South Carolina: a sheriff's lieutenant was fired on 31 August 2026 after the department said the lieutenant ran 62 unauthorized Flock license-plate-reader searches, which an internal audit found included vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-colleton-county-south-carolina-sheriffs-lieutenant-flock-alpr-searches-spouse-acquaintances-fired

BibTeX

@misc{2026_colleton_county_south_carolina_sheriffs_lieutenant_flock_alpr_searches_spouse_acquaintances_fired,
  title = {Colleton County, South Carolina: a sheriff's lieutenant was fired on 31 August 2026 after the department said the lieutenant ran 62 unauthorized Flock license-plate-reader searches, which an internal audit found included vehicles registered to the lieutenant's spouse and other acquaintances},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-colleton-county-south-carolina-sheriffs-lieutenant-flock-alpr-searches-spouse-acquaintances-fired}
}

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