Amber Harpe, a former Savannah police officer, was fired in August after sharing her Flock surveillance system login with her husband, an ICE agent, who conducted 983 license plate searches across six states, mostly targeting Hispanic drivers, according to internal records and interviews.
Amber Harpe, a former Savannah Police Department (SPD) officer, was fired in August after allowing her husband, Tyler Harpe, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, to access her Flock license plate reader account, which he used to conduct 983 searches across six states between January and July 2026. The searches, mostly targeting vehicles registered to Hispanic drivers, raised concerns about unauthorized access to local law enforcement data, according to internal records and interviews obtained by WJCL.
The Unauthorized Access and Its Scope
Tyler Harpe, who did not have a Flock account through the Department of Homeland Security, used Amber Harpe’s login to search for individuals with active arrest warrants, claiming the activity was for law-enforcement purposes.
According to an internal audit, the searches spanned Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with South Carolina plates accounting for 788 of the 983 entries. Tyler Harpe estimated that he used the account for about four months.
Amber Harpe acknowledged in interviews that she allowed her husband to use her credentials. She defended the activity, writing in her appeal that she was trying to assist another agency in the same way she would expect another agency to help Savannah police, and that every search he conducted was for law enforcement use only and not for personal gain. Interim Major Max Nowinsky recommended an eight-hour suspension, but Major Michelle Halford and Assistant Police Chief Robert Gavin disagreed, and they removed her from the force.
Firing for System Access Breach
The internal investigation by SPD found that Amber Harpe intentionally provided an unauthorized individual with access to a sensitive police system, breached department policy, and undermined safeguards meant to track who utilized law enforcement data. Interim Major Max Nowinsky initially recommended an eight-hour suspension, but Maj. Michelle Halford and Gavin argued for termination, emphasizing the intentional and repeated nature of the violation. Harpe was fired, along with five other SPD employees, after an internal investigation uncovered Flock misuse. Four of them were later arrested; however, Harpe was not one of them.
Disciplinary records indicated that since the searches were recorded under her account, the audit trail traced the activity to her, rather than her husband. SPD’s information-management policy prohibits employees from allowing unauthorized people to access city or department software, a rule Harpe breached.
Broader Implications for Flock Misuse
The case is far from the only Flock controversy of the past year. In May 2025, 404 Media reported that local law enforcement agencies conducted Flock lookups for ICE, despite ICE not having a contractual agreement with the company. The Harpe incident has intensified scrutiny of how law enforcement agencies share data with federal partners.
This is a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance,
Hill wrote. Flock’s built-in, permanent audit logs help hold officers accountable, while publicly reported cases are rare across its more than 6,000 agency customers. These concerns have spurred legislative action in Congress, with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers proposing bills aimed at regulating Flock and similar license plate reader systems.
Amber Harpe’s husband, Tyler Harpe, claimed the searches were strictly for law-enforcement purposes, while department records noted that most vehicle owners identified in the audit were Hispanic.
The case also highlights the issues surrounding credential sharing. Although state law allows law enforcement agencies to share data, credential sharing channels another individual’s actions through a different account, obscuring the true user behind each search. Harpe wrote in her appeal: The violation occurred because I gave my husband, who is a certified law enforcement officer with the Department of Homeland Security, access to my Flock account,
adding that every search he conducted was for law enforcement use only and not for personal gain.
Six former Savannah Police Department employees are under criminal investigation after being fired for allegedly misusing surveillance cameras made by Flock. https://t.co/E5soS6KzA2 pic.twitter.com/cYdSn04eTP