Audit of police surveillance cameras results in arrests of five former APD officers

ALBANY – With the arrest of five former Albany Police Department officers, Police Chief Michael Persley said that the department will work to drive home its policy that law enforcement resources are solely for solving and preventing crimes, not personal use.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests on Monday.

The misuse of license-plate reading technology was uncovered through a regular auditing process that is part of the Flock Safety camera system that is used by the agency, the chief said.

“The bottom line is when we find people who have misused resources, we’re going to hold them accountable,” Persley said. “These resources help fight crime, but we will not tolerate when they are misused.”

The GBI launched the probe on June 25 at the request of the police department after an internal audit of the Flock license plate reader system.

“This internal audit revealed that the officers previously accessed the Flock system on multiple occasions and utilized and retained license plate data for non-law enforcement purposes,” the GBI said in a news release.

Asked whether officers were accessing the equipment for personal use such as keeping tabs on romantic interests, Persley said “something like that.”

The five arrested and charges filed are:

• Tytianna Davis, 27, five counts of misuse of license plate data and one count of violation of oath of office;
• Jade Jackson, 32, two counts of misuse of license plate data and one count of violation of oath of office;
• Nicholas Richardson, 30, 11 counts of misuse of license plate data and one count of violation of oath of office;
• Brittney Smith, 23, one count each of misuse of license plate data and violation of oath of office;
• Issac Whitus, 24, two counts of misuse of license plate data and one count of violation of oath of office.

“When we misuse that (equipment) it’s disappointing, and we have to rebuild trust with the community,” Persley said. “It’s disappointing when you let your personal life mesh like this with your professional life … using it for people they have personal contact with to check their whereabouts.

“None of it was connected to any law enforcement-related actions. Nothing we had (seen) determined there was a legal reason to be checking those license plates.”

The Flock Safety system provides monitoring, and a relatively new feature has streamlined that process to provide information on potential misuse in a timely manner, the chief said.

“It will let you know when those parameters have been breached,” Persley said. “You go back and look at what was the reason. It’s unfortunate that you have occurrences like this. To reiterate: Whatever you did with the technology, we’re able to track you and what you did with the technology.”