Savannah mayor defends Flock cameras, despite misuse, firings of police department employees

Savannah mayor defends Flock cameras, despite misuse, firings of police department employees

Savannah mayor defends Flock cameras, despite misuse, firings of police department employees

Savannah will continue using Flock Safety license plate readers despite revelations that a former police department employee shared her login credentials with her husband, an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mayor Van Johnson said Tuesday.

Former department employee Amber Harp was fired after an internal investigation found that she had shared access to her city-issued account.

The account was used from January through July to conduct 983 searches involving 97 license plates across Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina and South Carolina. South Carolina accounted for 788 of those searches, and most of the vehicles were registered to Hispanic owners.

ICE was not authorized to use system

The City of Savannah did not give ICE permission to access the city’s Flock data, Johnson said. Outside agencies must contact the police department and enter into an agreement outlining how they may use the system.

“We did not authorize this information to be accessed by ICE,” Johnson said. “And so because it was unauthorized use of our technology, she was fired.”

Savannah reportedly shares Flock information with nearly 1,700 agencies, but ICE is not among them. Johnson said he did not know whether ICE had formally requested access.

Johnson also said he did not know why the Georgia Bureau of Investigation declined to pursue criminal charges. He suggested the decision could have been related to the searches not being conducted for Harp’s personal benefit, though he emphasized that he did not know the agency’s reasoning.

City developing Flock policy

The incident was part of a broader controversy that led to the firing of six police department employees over alleged misuse of the technology.

Johnson acknowledged that the department is still developing a policy specifically governing Flock cameras. Savannah already has a broader technology policy covering Flock, the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system and the Georgia and national criminal information databases known as GCIC and NCIC.

The department is also working on a public transparency portal that would provide more information about the city’s use of Flock technology.

Johnson said he did not know the current status of the proposed policy but expected to provide an update next week. Reports indicate Savannah is one of two law enforcement agencies in coastal Georgia without a Flock-specific policy.

The city must establish clear rules and ensure employees understand the consequences of conducting unauthorized searches, Johnson said.

“We can use the technology, and we can use the technology responsibly,” he said.

Mayor: public safety benefits outweigh risks

The unauthorized searches have not changed Johnson’s support for the cameras.

He pointed to a recent juvenile shooting investigation in which Flock technology helped police identify and arrest a suspect. The system also helps officers recover stolen vehicles, locate missing people and identify vehicles connected to crimes, he said.

Flock cameras capture publicly visible details about vehicles, including license plate numbers, makes and colors. Johnson said Savannah does not use the system for facial recognition.

“I don’t think there is a reasonable expectation to privacy as it relates to information that you can see,” he said.

Johnson compared the cameras to airport screenings and metal detectors at City Hall, saying each requires officials to balance privacy concerns against public safety needs.

“Right now, for us, the benefit outweighs the risk,” Johnson said. “And at the point that it does not, then I would be the first to insist that we don’t use them anymore.”