COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. — The Colleton County Sheriff’s Office has updated its ALPR policy after a now-former lieutenant used the system for 2,700 unauthorized searches in a year, WCIV reported.
Ruben Carter was found in an internal Flock audit to have used the technology without authorization more than 2,700 times over the course of one year. His searches included himself, friends, other deputies and former associates, the sheriff’s office said.
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Colleton County Sheriff Guerry Hill Jr. asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to investigate the case, according to a news release.
After Hill assigned the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility to audit the Flock system on Aug. 11 and implemented Flock’s audit assistance tool on Aug. 12, Carter’s searches were flagged the next day. He was fired on Aug. 20.
Prior to those changes, audits were conducted manually by a captain, WCIV reported.
The sheriff’s office stated that it had revised its policies concerning the system, including by revoking individual deputies’ access to the system. Deputies must be granted access to work on specific cases by the sheriff or chief deputy, and their use will be audited after the case is closed.
