Georgia Man Sues Sheriff and County Over Alleged Retaliation Tied to ALPR Use

The plaintiff claims that after filing a complaint over excessive force, the cameras were activated for tracking and surveillance without authorization.

Plaintiff alleges that after he complained of excessive force, the cameras enabled warrantless tracking and surveillance.

A Georgia small business owner is suing Flack and the Coweta County Sheriff's Office for retaliation over the use of license plate cameras.

"[The lawsuit] alleges illegal [license plate tracking] searches over months without probable cause and unrelated to any specific investigation," Hall & Lampros, attorneys for plaintiff Tyler Morkerson, wrote in a statement. The lawsuit alleges that Flock also failed to establish safeguards to prevent illegal surveillance by officers by accepting plain text entries instead of case numbers or specific investigations.

Morkerson's saga began in February 2023, when he was arrested by sheriff's deputies for an alleged seat belt violation. The charges were dropped months later. In September 2024, Morkerson sued the department, accusing them of excessive force. This case has just been settled.

While the complaint was pending, Morkerson says his license plate number was searched multiple times in Flock's system. In addition, he alleges that deputies followed or monitored him while driving to his home.

Her attorneys allege that sheriff's deputies made bogus arguments when searching Morkerson's vehicle. This is a widely reported vulnerability in the Flock system.

"During the relevant period, the Oct. 8 complaint states, the Flock platform only required text to be entered into an open field, and accepted whatever was typed — 'research' and, on twenty separate occasions in one section, 'heh.' A search thus returned no research. It's just a document that someone typed something. Flock has since acknowledged, by its own conduct, that its platform must require a verifiable law enforcement justification before conducting a search.

In August 2026, Flock announced that it would change its software and require "case codes for all law enforcement searches by the end of the year" as a way to reduce these abuses. The Coweta County Sheriff's Office began its own audit of the system that same month, and the complaint notes that "three employees resigned before the audit was completed."

Flock has come under increasing scrutiny, with hundreds of law enforcement agencies recently abandoning the company, largely due to overreaction and unwanted surveillance.

Brian Hofer, president of Secure Justice, a California-based organization that has investigated the use of Flock and other surveillance technologies, said he was not aware of another such lawsuit. But, he added, what matters is what agencies actually do versus what they say they do.

"Over the years, a number of law enforcement officials have told me that 'culture eats politics for lunch,'" he emailed Ares. I think this lawsuit is another example of why guardrails don't work, similar to the Trump administration's disregard for court orders and the law in general. "The solution is to ban the use of technology, at least until the police culture changes for the better."

Flock responded to our request for comment with a brief statement. "Flock stands by the integrity of its technology and the important role it plays in helping law enforcement solve crimes, find missing people and keep communities safe," a spokesperson said. "We do not agree with the claims made in this lawsuit and we intend to strongly defend our position in court."

The Coweta County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Ars' request for comment.