Savannah Police Officer Fired for Sharing Flock ALPR Login with ICE Husband

Former Savannah Police Department officer Amber Harpe was terminated after investigators discovered she provided her Flock automated license plate reader login credentials to her husband, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. This violation allowed her spouse to conduct hundreds of unauthorized license plate searches for individuals his agency sought to locate.

The termination followed an internal audit that flagged unusual search activity on Harpe’s account between January and July. Auditors identified 983 search entries covering 97 license plates from Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina. South Carolina records accounted for 788 of these searches, with investigators noting that most registered vehicle owners in that group were Hispanic.

Investigation and Disclosures

In a July interview, Amber Harpe told investigators she did not recognize many of the names associated with the searches and stated her husband had performed most of them. Tyler Harpe later explained in an August interview that he requested access to her account to locate individuals with arrest warrants while conducting field operations.

Tyler Harpe stated to investigators that every name he searched was an ICE target. He claimed he lacked a Flock account through the Department of Homeland Security, which prompted his request for access to his wife’s credentials.

Policy Violations and Context

When asked why ICE did not have its own access, Amber Harpe reportedly told an investigator that local agencies generally do not wish to work with the federal immigration agency. Internal records obtained by WJCL show that the Savannah police department shares Flock data with more than 1,700 agencies, but ICE is not on that list.

This case highlights longstanding concerns among critics regarding federal immigration agents accessing local camera networks without formal agreements. It also follows a pattern of incidents in Georgia involving police misuse of Flock’s automated license plate readers. Recent months have seen police employees in Savannah, Milton, Augusta, and Coweta County fired, arrested, or sued over system misuse.

What should you do?

Security professionals and agency administrators should review access logs for automated license plate reader systems to identify unusual search volumes or geographic anomalies. Organizations must enforce strict credential management policies that prohibit sharing logins between personnel, even within the same household or agency.

What to do and how to stay safe: Flock

• Monitor automated license plate reader logs for sudden spikes in search volume or queries from non-standard geographic locations.
• Enforce strict identity and access management policies that prohibit credential sharing among employees or family members.
• Verify that data-sharing agreements with external agencies are formally documented and that only authorized entities have access.
• Conduct regular audits of user activity to ensure compliance with departmental usage policies and legal requirements.

Step-by-step guide: Mobile Device Security: How to Protect Data Beyond Passwords

General security guidance from the Threat Times newsroom. It is not confirmed advice from the organisations named in this story.

Frequently asked questions

Why was the Savannah police officer fired?

She was terminated for providing her Flock login credentials to her husband, an ICE agent, who used them to run unauthorized license plate searches.

Did Savannah police have an agreement to share data with ICE?

No, internal records indicate that Savannah police do not share their Flock data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

How many searches were conducted using the shared account?

Auditors counted 983 search entries covering 97 license plates between January and July.