Demand Transparency From the City
- How was an Officer able to access the cameras 160 times without being flagged?
- Who was responsible for conducting audits?
- What has been done to ensure this doesn't happen again?
- Why is the policy that governs use of this system not available on the city website?
What is an ALPR?
An Automated Licese Plate Reader is a camera and computer, which take photos of vehicles, and record their License Plate, as well as other identifying information into a privately-owned database that Law Enforcement has access to.
- Photos of every vehicle sent to a centralized database
- Mauldin Police can access data from thousands of cameras
- Over 900 law enforcement agencies can access our data*
- External agencies don't need a warrant to search our data.
- External agencies not bound by City of Mauldin Policies
*As of April 2026, 3,333 agencies were accessing our data. During the 9/21 Council meeting, it was announced that the data sharing agreement in the Flock Platform was changed to just 930 agencies in the Southeast.
This is not a Camera Issue... It's a Data Issue.
4th Amendment Tile Theory
Think of a mosaic tile artwork. One single tile does not show you the whole picture. However, when you step back and look at thousands of tiles together, a clear and detailed image emerges.
The Whole is Greater
The theory assumes that gathering long-term data (like tracking someone’s public movements for weeks) reveals intimate details about a person’s life that short-term observation cannot.
Bad Data
ALPR’s are bad at reading plates, especially in poor lighting conditions. There are countless stories of completely innocent people flagged because of plate misreads and being stopped and pulled out of their vehicles at gun point.
First Step Toward Transparency:
Mauldin PD Publishes a Transparency Portal
While a step in the right direction, the portal is missing a crucial audit log that shows the full picture. The log available for download shows only searches that Mauldin PD officers have made. There is another log available called the Network Audit Log, which shows all searches from external agencies that included Mauldin PD’s data in the search.
Tactical Error:
Camera Placement
Mauldin PD operates 6 cameras placed near the city limits and are monitoring the lanes of traffic coming into the city.
This means that if a crime is committed in Mauldin and leaves the city limits, the vehicle passes by the cameras undetected in the outbound lanes.
Where are the cameras?
The City of Mauldin Police own and operate Six cameras around the city. Surrounding agencies also have their own networks of cameras.
Mauldin PD officers have access to over 135,000 cameras nationwide.
Over 5,000 law enforcement organizations nationwide have access to Mauldin’s Flock Data. And our rules don’t apply to them, so even if we do everything perfectly, a rogue officer from a neighboring agency that has Flock access can still track anyone that passes by our cameras.
Data Downloads
Audits logs retrieved from both cities were truncated to 1,048,575. They were likely opened in Excel, which can only hold that exact number of rows.
Mauldin Police Department
Network Audit Log - April 2026
The file below was obtained through FOIA request. The city announced during the last council meeting that it was reducing it’s data sharing agreement within flock to just 930 agencies in the southeast.
Simpsonville Police Department
Network Audit Log - April 2026
The data below is from a FOIA request that captured the Audit Logs for the month of April 2026. There are two files, one contains the internal searches, and one contains the external searches.
USAToday Dataset
USA Today has collected data from Hundreds of Sets of Audit Logs from agencies around the country and put it in a searchable database listed below. About 2,500 searches are available that originated from Mauldin PD Officers.
Early Warning System Report
The Early Warning System is designed to “identify employees who may be exhibiting signs of stress or personal issues that affect their job performance“
There was an increase in use of force incidents, as well as pursuits from the previous year. The increase in pursuits was likely due to the recent policy changes, and the use of flock equipment.
Who should I contact?
How You Can Get Involved
Come to City Council Meetings
Contact City Council Members
Mailing Address Below.
Go out and Protest
Make a Sign. Stand on Public Property.
FOIA Request Tracker
City of Mauldin
Request sent 8/18/26 (Completed)
Records Requested — Mauldin Police Department Use of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR/Flock Safety)
Time Period: March 1, 2026 to present, except where otherwise noted below.
- Any contract, agreement, master services agreement, renewal, purchase order, or memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the City of Mauldin and/or the Mauldin Police Department (“MPD”) and Flock Safety, Inc.
- Any written policy, standard operating procedure, or general order governing MPD’s use of ALPR/Flock technology, including provisions addressing data retention periods, authorized access to captured data, and the circumstances under which data is shared with other law enforcement agencies.
- Any contract, agreement, MOU, or other documentation with private landowners on whose property department-owned ALPR cameras are mounted.
- Any record of a referral to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) or any other outside agency concerning an officer’s misuse of the Flock ALPR system, including the date of referral and the receiving agency’s name.
- Any complaint, report, or communication — internal or from a member of the public — that initiated or contributed to the discovery of former Officer Ellie Hammond’s misuse of the Flock ALPR system, including the date received.
- Any council agenda item, committee report, staff memo, or internal communication discussing the Hammond matter (August 3, 2026 to present).
- Any renewal agreement, amendment, or order form for the Flock Safety contract covering the term beginning after June 27, 2026; or, if the City elected not to renew, any notice of non-renewal sent to Flock Safety.
Please produce records in electronic format where available. For any item for which no responsive records exist, please confirm this in writing. If any portion of this request is denied, please cite the specific statutory exemption relied upon for each withheld record pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 30-4-40.
If any item is deemed overly broad or unduly burdensome, please contact me before denial so the request may be narrowed, and please produce all undisputed responsive records in the interim.
Response Received 9/4/26: The City has no responsive records for this additional request.
City of Mauldin
Request sent 9/14/26 (Completed)
Records Requested: The Network Audit Log from the Flock Safety system containing the data from April 1st, 2026 through April 30. 2026. The Network Audit log file is available within the Insights tab and is defined searches of the organization’s Flock network by any agency in the Flock System. The report should include all selectable columns.
Redaction Cost: I paid $90 to have this document redacted and released. It was a total of 9 pages, and only six pages had redactions.
9/24/26 Update: The city has agreed to refund $80 of the $90 cost paid.
Response Received 9/17/26: Download Initial PDF report returned. (Incorrect Data)
Response Received 9/24/26: Download Correct Dataset
MetroConnects
Request sent 9/25/2026 (Pending)
Records Requested: Any agreements, contracts, MOU’s, or email correspondence between MetroConnects and either 1. The city of Mauldin, 2. The City of Mauldin Police Department, or 3. Flock Safety that allows the city of Mauldin to place a Flock Safety ALPR camera on the properties adjacent to 1151 West butler road, located on the Greenville County GIS Map as #M013020100902 or #M013020100901
Response Received 9/28/2026: MetroConnects does not have any agreements related to flock cameras and we do not have any flock cameras on our property.
What is Needed From the City Council
City Council has been silent on this issue. Force them to publicly defend the use of ALPRs on citizens.
Transparency
- Current and Past Flock System Policy Documents and Audit Reports Made Available on the City Website.*
- Press release posted to Mauldin City Website explaining what went wrong, and what's been changed to ensure it doesn't happen again.
- Add ALPR as an Agenda Item for discussion in the September Public Safety Committee Meeting.
Accountability
-
Investigation by 3rd Party such as South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.* - Statements from Each Member of the Council Explaining Their Position in this Matter.
- Justification from Chief Miller with examples of how this system has helped solve crimes.
Ultimately, the citizens of Mauldin want these cameras gone. Nobody opposed the approval of these cameras in 2024 because at the time, there was no real reason to. The only public discussion we’ve been able to find is a single 2024 presentation to a three-member subcommittee — not a vote of the full Council, and not a conversation with the people whose movements these cameras record every day.
That presentation promised us a safeguard: officers would have to log a reason for every search, leaving what the department itself called “a digital footprint of who signed in and why.” That footprint existed. Nobody looked at it for months. That’s how a Mauldin officer was able to search a private citizen’s location 166 times to track an ex-partner without anyone noticing — not because the system failed, but because no one was ever required to check it.
The officer was fired. She has not been criminally charged. No one else has been held accountable, and the City has told the public nothing about how this happened or what, if anything, has changed to stop it from happening again. Silence is not an investigation.
The people who let this happen — through absent oversight, not just one officer’s misconduct — have faced zero consequences. Meanwhile, the City has continued paying for this program without pausing to answer a single one of these questions publicly. The Flock Contract auto-renewed on 8/30, almost a month after the officer was fired, and several other departments in the upstate announced they were going to pause their Flock usage and have public discussion.
Pressure on this Council is the only thing that moves this. Email them. Write them. Call them. Show up to meetings and demand answers. They are hoping this quietly disappears. Don’t let it.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm not doing anything wrong, why should I be worried?
While we can write policy locally, we also send all of our data into a massive, privately-owned database where over 5,000 law enforcement agencies can access data collected from Mauldin ALPR cameras without asking permission or an active warrant.
There are numerous stories of Police officers stopping innocent citizens because of incorrect data, or misread license plates.
Even if we shore up policies in Mauldin, an officer from a neighboring agency can track anyone that crosses the view of a camera, so everyone is potentially at risk. We can’t control how other agencies use that data, but we can cancel the contract and get back to community policing.
Why not just show up to council meetings and speak?
You can an absolutely should. However if it’s not an agenda item, the council does not speak, you can ask questions but they won’t be answered, you’re just giving a speech.
We want city council to add it officially to the agenda so they are forced to discuss it in public, and provide their stance. City council is also who creates policies and appropriates funding, so they need to act on our behalf.
The city of Greer fired two police officers and has made the decision to pause use of the system for 90 days while SLED investigates, and the public has a chance to discuss. There is no good reason for not following suit.
They're just license plate readers, what's the big deal?
Flock’s ALPR cameras aren’t like your normal traffic cameras. This surveillance technology records and tracks every car that comes into view, and then an AI algorithm catalogs the make, model, color, license plate number, bumper stickers, and even scratches. This personal information is then uploaded into a nationwide database that any law enforcement agency with a Flock contract can search — with few regulations or oversight on how they use what they find.
The cameras were approved for use in 2024 and nobody opposed.
That is true, when the system was initially installed, we had no reason to question it, the chief gave a presentation, stated it’s use case and the presentation states very clearly that:
2. They will not be used as a surveillance system for the sole purpose of watching individuals who are not suspected of violating laws or ordinances.
But then an officer was fired for allegedly using the system to search for an ex 166 times. It didn’t become an issue until it was misused. We know why the officer was fired, but have not been told how this was able to happen, or what steps have been taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again, or how we protect our citizens from users outside of our Jurisdiction who have full access to our data from abusing it.
Isn't your phone already tracking you?
Yes, but for police to get access to data on your phone, they have to go in front of a judge and get a warrant.
You cannot opt out of being tracked by ALPR cameras like Flock. Every vehicle gets logged every time, and the more you drive, the more data is collected. The legal concept for combining individual, public observations into a comprehensive record of a person’s movements is called the mosaic theory, and it’s exactly what flock is doing – taking individual photos in “public” and assembling them into a record of your movements.
It's just a photo taken in public, isn't that legal?
Yes. There is no expectation of privacy in public. The problem is what happens after the photo is taken.
- The photo is sent to flock’s centralized database with a timestamp and location.
- The photo is processed with AI to pull relevant details and create a description of the vehicle, and anything seen in the photo.
- The city/department owns the photo, but not the data that is created. The data belongs to Flock Safety.
- The data collected can be turned into a map of where the vehicle has traveled over the past 30 days, anywhere in the country.
- That data is collected and synthesized for every vehicle that is on the roads, not just those that are suspected of crimes.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Fired or Resigned
Kareem Lynch
Greer Police Department
Terminated June 26, 2026
Terminated (and later investigated by SLED) after an internal review found he used department cameras to search tags of a former partner and entered deceitful reports to hide the activity
Sebastian Echeverry
Greer Police Department
Terminated June 29, 2026
Terminated (and later investigated by SLED) after an internal review found he used department cameras to search tags of a former partner and entered deceitful reports to hide the activity
Ellie Hammond
Mauldin Police Department
Terminated August 3, 2026
Terminated after department records showed she performed 166 unauthorized searches on a vehicle belonging to a former significant other between March and July 2026. She allegedly entered false reasons like “warrant check” or “welfare check” to mask the searches.
Richard Mann
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
Terminated August 13, 2026
An internal investigation confirmed Mann was running license plate queries for personal, non-law-enforcement reasons and falsified records by entering misleading justifications to hide his actions. Deputy Mann attempted to resign during the investigation, but Sheriff Lewis rejected the resignation to formally fire him.
Lauren Wilkinson
Greenville County Sheriff's Office
Terminated August 13, 2026
As a dispatcher/communications supervisor, Wilkinson accessed the automated license plate tracking system outside of authorized law enforcement duties and entered incorrect case numbers or fictitious information to justify the searches.
Eric Center
Anderson County Sheriff's Office
Terminated September 9, 2026
The sheriff’s office said an internal affairs investigation was immediately launched after it was made aware that Deputy Eric Center had used FLOCK for a purpose outside of the authorized reasons for accessing the system. During the course of the investigation, the sheriff’s office said Center resigned effective immediately.
Caleb Dixon
Anderson County Sheriff's Office
Terminated September 9, 2026
An Internal Affairs investigation was started into Dixon, but sources would not confirm why the investigation was initiated. An investigation uncovered that Caleb Dixon used the Flock system for personal benefit.