HALL COUNTY, Ga. — The Hall County Sheriff’s Office announced another deputy’s resignation due to misuse of Flock camera system.
Friday’s resignation makes it four employees who have resigned in connection with the misuse of Flock.
The sheriff’s office said three others were fired for Flock misuse, for a total of seven in the same sheriff’s office.
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Brandon Sanders resigned while under investigation as part of the agency’s audit of its Flock Safety System Friday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The investigation uncovered that Sanders conducted unauthorized searches multiple times on various license plates while he was off duty.
Sanders had been employed by HCSO since December 2021.
The violations will be referred to the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training Council for review.
GA POST executive director Chris Harvey confirmed to Channel 2 Action News that it currently has 38 open cases resulting from disciplinary action against an officer for alleged Flock camera misuse.
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Harvey also stated that law enforcement agencies are not required to report discipline for an officer to GA POST unless it involves arrest, termination, suspension for at least 30 days, demotion, or resignation in lieu of termination or investigation. Therefore, cases involving lesser disciplinary actions, if they exist, would not be reported to GA POST.
Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch issued a statement on Flock Safety System audit to address the impact to employee misuse Friday:
“I believe we cannot not discount the positive outcomes Flock can help deliver; however, we must put our own guardrails in place to ensure we’re using it correctly.
So, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲𝘀:
1. We 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 on September 4, 2026, based on the audit provided to us by Flock Safety. The irregularities were reported directly to us so we could further analyze the data. Our Internal Affairs (IA) Unit reviewed 758 Flock searches. IA flagged 85 as anomalous or suspicious in nature.
2. We made sure there was 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀. Those who violated policy were terminated or resigned while under investigation.
3. While the sheriff’s office terminated employees or accepted their resignations for policy violations, 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or to the Hall County Solicitor for review and possible charges.
4. All 𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗧) 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 for professional and certification review. Pending review, it is possible the former employees may lose their officer certifications.
5. We have 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Every vehicle search must now be tied to a specific criminal case and offense type before it can be submitted. In addition, restricted access on the number of users in the agency has gone from 124 to only 24. Those 24 users must undergo specialized training.
6. We have 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺-𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀. Flock will now require the labeling of every search with a criminal case number and will implement an automatic review for abnormal search activities. Data retention has been shortened from 30 days to seven (7) days, unless the data is specifically needed as evidence in an investigation.
7. We have 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆. Our Transparency Portal is open to the public on our website daily. We use Flock to capture objective evidence without compromising individual privacy and only conduct searches to solve crimes after they’ve occurred."
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