Conyers police supervisor arrested after Flock audit, department says

Editor’s note: The video above is from previous coverage.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Yet another metro Atlanta law enforcement member has been arrested for allegedly misusing the department’s Flock license plate reader system.

Paige Forte, a 30-year-old supervisor with the Conyers Police Department’s Real-Time Crime Center, allegedly used the system to search for her domestic partner’s car several times. The searches were flagged during an audit, according to police.

Rockdale County Jail records show Forte was arrested on Wednesday and charged with prohibited uses on law enforcement retaining license plate data. The police department asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to complete its own criminal investigation.

In its own statement, the GBI said Forte allegedly accessed the system “for non-law enforcement purposes” more than 30 times between April and July this year.

Forte has been put on administrative leave following the outcome of the police department’s internal investigation.

“The integrity of our department depends on the public’s confidence that we use technology responsibly and within the law,” Conyers Police Chief Scott Freeman said in a statement. “No employee is above the law, and we will continue to hold ourselves to the highest standards of accountability.”

Several law enforcement officers in Georgia — including three Fayetteville police officers, three Cherokee County deputies, one DeKalb County deputy and one Greene County deputy — have recently been disciplined for allegedly using their departments’ Flock systems outside of official law enforcement activity.

MORE COVERAGE: AI audit tool flags suspicious police searches as Flock misuse cases mount in Georgia

The rash of firings and arrests is likely because of a new “audit assistance” tool launched by Flock Safety in April. The company told Atlanta News First Investigates that the tool uses artificial intelligence to flag searches that may be outside a department’s policy, sending questionable activity to supervisors for review.

Flock’s supporters argue the widespread camera network helps solve crimes, but critics point out the privacy concerns — especially when vehicle location data is stored in the system for 30 days, and some cameras are even designed to track people as they walk, an Atlanta News First investigation found.