The Franklin County Sheriff's Office has stopped using Flock surveillance cameras after it found an investigator used the cameras to track an unnamed person.
Detective Janet Leonard was fired after using the system to “track every movement of a single, private citizen,” White said in a release sent to media outlets Friday morning.
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The sheriff's office has used the cameras for nearly a decade, according to Sheriff Kevin White. The department conducted an internal audit of the surveillance system and found that a Franklin County detective was using Flock cameras to track someone.
“That audit revealed a stream of highly unusual activity,” White said. “This led to an immediate investigation that quickly led to an alarming discovery.”
“This is unacceptable, unconstitutional, and a complete violation of privacy by someone whose entire career should have been dedicated to protecting the public,” White said.
“I will stop at nothing to keep our community safe and excellent beyond measure, but I will never allow it to come at the cost of your privacy and constitutional rights,” White said. “Citizens deserve transparency, and a government they can depend on to keep them safe, not a government that can be weaponized against them.”
The investigation was forwarded to the Franklin County District Attorney's Office and they will decide whether to press charges or not.
"Generally, accessing a flock camera system or the misuse thereof is punishable as a misdemeanor. This type of allegation raises credibility concerns for an officer," said Mike Water, Franklin County District Attorney, in an email response.
UNC School of Government professor Jeff Welty said reports of Flock misuse are becoming more public.
“Anytime law enforcement or any particular group of people has access to a large amount of information, there's going to be a risk of misuse and a need for appropriate regulation and policies to address it,” Welty said.
What makes this instance unusual, Welty said, is the Sheriff's decision to turn the cameras off.
"I haven't seen that specific reaction before. Every agency can make its own decision about these things," Welty said. "There's no standard, there's no kind of legal roadmap to follow."
WRAL News has also reached out to the Franklin County Sheriff's Office to ask when the investigation into Leonard began and what process the agency will use to decide whether to turn the cameras back on.