Hall County, Georgia: a sheriff's investigator was fired in September 2026 after an internal audit found the investigator had repeatedly used the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system to find the whereabouts of a person known to them

On 2 September 2026 the Hall County Sheriff's Office announced in a press release that an ongoing audit of its Flock automated license-plate-reader system had found that a property crimes investigator, employed since February 2022, used the system for non-law enforcement purposes. According to the agency, its Internal Affairs Unit determined that the investigator used the Flock system multiple times to find the whereabouts of a person the investigator knew; officials said the searches were personal and had no connection to a legitimate law enforcement purpose. The investigator was terminated that day, the third investigator fired during the audit. The sheriff's office said the violations, along with others found in the audit, would be referred to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council and the Hall County Solicitor's Office. Atlanta News First reported that the press release did not mention any criminal charges. Now Georgia reported on 30 September 2026 that the agency reviewed 758 Flock searches and flagged 85 as anomalous or suspicious, that seven employees left following investigations into unauthorized Flock activity, and that the sheriff's office cut authorized users from 124 to 24 and required searches to be tied to a specific criminal case. The sources do not identify the person searched, the dates or number of searches, or whether the person knew of them. The sources do not describe the readers as AI.

According to the Hall County Sheriff's Office, an investigator repeatedly used the agency's Flock license-plate-reader system to find the whereabouts of a person the investigator knew, for personal reasons and without a law enforcement purpose.

The Hall County Sheriff's Office terminated the investigator on 2 September 2026 after its Internal Affairs Unit found the Flock searches were personal; it referred the violations to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council and, according to FOX 5, to the Hall County Solicitor's Office for further review. The press release did not mention criminal charges (Atlanta News First). By 30 September 2026 the agency had reviewed 758 Flock searches and flagged 85 as anomalous or suspicious, seven employees had left following the audit, and authorized users had been reduced from 124 to 24 (Now Georgia).