Georgia Cops Keep Getting Arrested And Fired For Illegally Using Flock Cameras To Stalk People, But Surely Those 17 Bad Apples Aren't Representative Of The Entire Bunch

"Another Georgia cop accused of misusing Flock data in growing trend," the USA Today headline reads. If you remember now-former Braselton police chief Michael Steffman's arrest on stalking charges last year, it would be understandable if you assumed CBS News meant a second Georgia officer had been arrested for misusing Flock's license plate data to stalk their victims. There couldn't be that many bad cops getting arrested in one state, right? Well, that depends on whether your definition of "not that many" because USA Today reports that at least 17 Georgia cops have been accused of Flock-stalking in just the last couple of months. 

Former Sergeant Kabiru Salawu lost the job he'd held with the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office since 2009, after he was arrested over allegations that he engaged in "unauthorized use of the agency's Flock Safety technology." Salawu currently faces a felony charge for violating his oath of office, but in Georgia, misuse of license plate data is charged as a misdemeanor. For now, the sheriff's office hasn't released any information on how it caught Salawu, nor have they explained what he's accused of using Flock's system to do.

According to CBS News, Salawu's arrest brings the total number of law enforcement officers accused of abusing their access to the private surveillance system that tracks everyone everywhere all the time, even if you don't drive a car or have a license plate visible, to 10 "in recent weeks." Not months or years. Weeks. As internal audits continue, don't be surprised to see those numbers rise in the coming weeks, either. Where there's smoke, there's usually fire, and if internal audits turned up enough evidence to charge 17 officers over the last several months, it stands to reason that ongoing investigations will turn up evidence of even more abuses within the Georgia law enforcement community.

In addition to DeKalb arresting Salawu, Georgia's WRDW reports the Fayetteville Police Department fired three officers last week after an audit "revealed that the officers had conducted searches outside their scope of work — including looking for their own plates or those of friends and family." Whether the officers involved limited their unauthorized searches only to friends and family, the department hasn't said, but it has reportedly requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigate the alleged abuse. 

While Fayetteville police are still withholding the names of the fired officers, CBS News reports that the Albany Police Department fired five officers caught abusing their Flock access earlier in July. Now-former police officers Tytianna Davis, Jade Jackson, Nicholas Richardson, Brittney Smith, and Issac Whitus all face charges. Additionally, 11Alive reports that over in Cherokee County, the sheriff's office fired and arrested Lieutenant Chris Bryant and Sergeant Mike Creeden for abusing the Flock system late last month. That announcement also came 10 days after the same department fired and arrested Deputy Cynthia Jodesty on similar charges. 

Like Salawu, many of those fired and charged with abusing their Flock access in recent months were veteran law enforcement officers with years of experience, not rookies still learning the ropes. The good news is, bad apples notoriously don't spoil the whole bunch, so if you live in Georgia, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. There's no way the 17 officers accused of illegally using their departments' Flock systems in recent months (20 in the last year, according to Atlanta News First) could possibly be indicative of a larger problem with Georgia law enforcement or cops in general. Flock exists to keep us safe, and we can definitely trust all the people still supporting and using the all-powerful surveillance technology.