Second Habersham County Sheriff’s Office deputy terminated and arrested following unauthorized access to license plate data

The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office announced today the termination and arrest of a second deputy following an ongoing internal audit of access to license plate data.

An internal audit revealed that former Deputy Jonathan Thomas accessed the Flock camera system and utilized retained license plate data for personal, non-law enforcement purposes. The investigation revealed that this was an incident involving an individual with whom he had a personal relationship with at the time.

Following the discovery of the violation, his employment with the agency was terminated. Thomas was arrested and booked into the Habersham County Detention Center on charges of felony violation of oath of office and misdemeanor misuse of license plate data.

This investigation is active and ongoing. Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the District Attorney’s Office for review and prosecution.

Thomas began his employment with the Sheriff’s Office on December 2, 2024.

“As we continue to conduct our audit into the use of our Flock system, we have discovered a second deputy who accessed Flock outside of its intended law enforcement purpose,” said Sheriff Robin Krockum. “We will continue to audit our system and hold those accountable who have abused this system. Our current policy has been strengthened to include a two-person approval process before any license plate data can be entered into the system. If a deputy wants to search for a specific license plate, they must first have supervisor approval, who will document and approve the reason and enter in the search. They must have a documented case number, as well as contacting our dispatch center via radio to log the search. This will lower the number of approved users from 39 to only 23 supervisors who have access to enter and search for a specific license plate.  We will continue to be transparent to the public in the way we conduct ourselves and hold those responsible who violate their trust.”

The press release from the first arrest is below:

Habersham County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Terminated and Arrested Following Unauthorized Access to License Plate Data

The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office announced today the termination and arrest of a deputy following an internal audit of access to license plate data.

An internal audit revealed that former Deputy Christian Brewer accessed the Flock camera system and utilized retained license plate data for personal, non-law enforcement purposes. The investigation revealed that this was an isolated incident involving an individual with whom he had a personal relationship at the time.

Following the discovery of the violation, Brewer’s employment with the agency was terminated.  Brewer was arrested and booked into the Habersham County Detention Center on charges of felony violation of oath of office and two counts of misdemeanor misuse of license plate data.  This investigation is active and ongoing. Once the investigation is complete, the case file will be given to the District Attorney’s Office for review and prosecution.  Brewer began his employment with the Sheriff’s Office on May 6, 2024.

“The people of Habersham County trust us with authority and access to sensitive information. This trust is earned every day and can be lost in a single decision. Any misuse of our authority or the tools provided to your deputies is a betrayal of that trust.  Although this was an isolated incident, I will not tolerate misconduct. We will hold our own accountable because the public we serve deserves no less,” said Sheriff Robin Krockum”.

The Flock Safety camera network is utilized by law enforcement to capture license plates and vehicle characteristics specifically to aid in solving major crimes, recovering stolen vehicles, and locating missing or endangered persons. This system only captures a picture of the license plate and characteristics of the vehicle. It does not contain any personal information about the owner, and this information is only kept in the system for 30 days. After this time, the information is purged.

Access to this system is strictly limited to legitimate law enforcement purposes and authorized investigations. This system has been used on multiple occasions by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office to locate missing children and adults and to recover stolen vehicles.

“Although the choice of this deputy casts a bad light on the use of this technology, Flock continues to be a valuable tool for law enforcement that has been proven to save lives,” Krockum said.