Editor’s Note: The video in this story is from prior reporting. ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — An investigator with the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office has been arrested and charged with allegedly misusing Flock cameras. Investigator Stephanie Howard resigned from her position and turned herself in at the county jail. She is charged with violating her oath by a public officer and a charge of “collection, storage, sharing, and destruction of captured license plate data for law enforcement purposes,” the sheriff’s office said. Several “suspicious inquiries” by Howard during a six-month period came up during the agency’s self-audit of their license plate readers, they said. “Sheriff Jud Smith initiated an internal investigation for the purpose of identifying any policy violations,” the agency said. “This internal investigation yielded results which confirmed the possibility of criminal violations and the case was turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at the request of the Sheriff’s Office.” Howard’s departure comes amid mounting scrutiny over how law enforcement officers across Georgia use automated license plate readers. An Atlanta News First investigation previously uncovered at least 19 cases in a single year where Georgia officers faced disciplinary action or criminal charges for abusing Flock Safety’s database to run improper personal searches, including tracking ex-partners. That reporting helped spark a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing in September…
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