A Georgia police officer was fired after an investigation revealed she allowed her husband, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer, to access her Flock license plate reader login.
This case is another example of the type of behavior critics of Flock Safety cameras have criticized.
The Savannah Police Department fired officer Amber Harpe, along with other law enforcement employees, for misusing the surveillance network, according to The Verge.
Now, former Savannah police officer Amber Harpe was fired in August following a department investigation that found she had shared her Flock login information with her husband, Tyler Harpe, an ICE agent. SPD does not share its Flock data with ICE and said sharing access to the system violated the department’s security protocols.
While he had unauthorized access to the system, Tyler Harpe conducted 983 searches related to 97 license plates, which were overwhelmingly registered to Hispanic drivers, according to Savannah’s local ABC affiliate, WJCL. The Harpes defended their actions, saying they didn’t use access for personal reasons and that the searches were strictly for “law-enforcement purposes.”
Interim Major Max Nowinsky originally recommended a light eight-hour suspension for Harpe. However, Major Michelle Halford and Assistant Police Chief Robert Gavin disagreed, and they removed her from the force. 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.
A Savannah Georgia police officer Amber Harpe gave her husband, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, access to the police department’s Flock license plate reader system, which he used to conduct hundreds of searches tied to ICE investigations across the Southeast. The Savannah Police Officer has now been fired for handing her Flock System Credentials to her ICE agent husband Critics claim the case underscores severe vulnerabilities in how law enforcement agencies monitor automated license plate reader (ALPR) networks and secure sensitive tracking infrastructure. Savannah Police Officer Amber Harpe admitted to giving her department username and password directly to her husband an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who confirmed he requested the credentials because he lacked direct access to the Flock system through DHS. The internal investigation was triggered after an audit flagged an abnormal surge of searches running through Harpe’s account between January and July 2026. In total, the audit uncovered 983 search entries tracking 97 identifiable plates across six states: Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. South Carolina plates dominated the activity, accounting for 788 search entries across 48 plates. Furthermore, internal documents noted that the majority of the registered vehicle owners flagged during the audit were Hispanic. While Harpe's husband maintained that every query targeted individuals with active federal arrest warrants and claimed he stopped using the account once ICE shifted operations, the Savannah Police Department took a zero tolerance stance. Because her husband was an ICE agent using the queries for federal immigration enforcement and warrant lookups (rather than financial or commercial gain), the case currently sits primarily in the realm of internal employment discipline and agency policy violations rather than an active criminal prosecution. Tyler Harpe estimated that he used the account for about four months. He said he stopped roughly three weeks before his interview because the agency no longer conducted vehicle stops and he no longer needed the system. Harpe gave investigators a slightly different timeline, saying her husband stopped about a week before her interview because he was concerned she could face discipline. He denied searching for relatives, former romantic partners or anyone for personal reasons. He maintained that every person he searched was an ICE target and said the Flock information helped his agency locate wanted people with criminal histories. He also acknowledged that using another officer’s account could violate policy. “The investigation established that Amber Harpe provided her Flock Safety credentials to her husband,” the final report said. “Both provided consistent statements that the searches involved ICE targets and were conducted for law-enforcement purposes.” Savannah is considered a liberal and Democratic-leaning city, though it exists inside a solid conservative region. In Chatham County both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump by a wide margin.
— Cedar Posts (@CedarPosts) October 16, 2026
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Harpe joined the department in March 2020 and worked in its Behavioral Health Unit and has no prior disciplinary actions against her.
Her husband told investigators that ICE built target packages on everyone he searched and that each of the targets had active arrest warrants, WJCL reported. He said he made no personal searches and stopped using the database after ICE halted vehicle stops.
In her appeal, Harpe noted that “Every search he conducted was for law enforcement use only and not for personal gain” and that “There was no malicious intent, no personal gain, and no intent to harm the Department or undermine public trust.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not charged Harpe, but ICE is investigating the matter “because of its agent’s involvement,” according to WTOC.
The police department said, “SPD does share credentials with different agencies, but ICE is not one of them.”
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