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Mauldin, S.C. officer fired for using Flock cameras 166 times to track ex-partner, falsified search logs

Separation papers Mauldin, South Carolina police officials filed with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy — first publicly reported August 10, 2026 after records requests, since neither Hammond nor the department disclosed it voluntarily — showed that Mauldin Police Department officer Ellie Hammond was terminated August 3, 2026 after using the department's Flock automated license-plate-reader system 166 times between March and July 2026 to track a former significant other's vehicle. Hammond disguised the searches by logging them as warrant checks, traffic infractions, and welfare checks rather than their real purpose.

Part of: Police Using License-Plate Camera Networks to Stalk

Jurisdiction
South Carolina
Location
Mauldin, South Carolina

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Ellie Hammond (former officer, Mauldin Police Department)

On August 10, 2026, FITSNews reported, based on separation papers Mauldin, South Carolina police officials filed with the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy, that the department had terminated officer Ellie Hammond, 24, on August 3 for misusing its Flock automated license-plate-reader system. Neither Hammond nor the Mauldin Police Department disclosed the termination publicly; it became known only after journalists obtained the separation paperwork. FOX Carolina and the Post and Courier subsequently confirmed the termination on the record with the Criminal Justice Academy and the city of Mauldin, respectively.

According to the separation papers, Hammond used the department's Flock camera system 166 times between March and July 2026 to repeatedly search for a single vehicle belonging to a former significant other, for reasons unrelated to any police investigation. She disguised the searches by logging them under false justifications -- "warrant check," "traffic infraction," and "welfare check" -- rather than their actual purpose. The lieutenant who filed her separation paperwork stated that the justification behind Hammond's Flock entries was never the real reason for the search. Hammond had served with the department for about two years and was stripped of her South Carolina law-enforcement certification following the termination. As of this reporting, the Criminal Justice Academy confirmed no criminal charges had been filed against her.

Hammond's case was the fifth Flock-misuse termination or investigation named among Greenville County-area law enforcement employees in about five weeks, following the July 8, 2026 firings of two Greer Police Department officers and August 13, 2026 findings against two Greenville County Sheriff's Office deputies for the same underlying conduct.

Updates

2026-08-14 — SLED opened investigation into Hammond's Flock misuse [4]

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division opened an investigation into Hammond's Flock misuse on August 14, 2026, the same day her termination became publicly known, FOX Carolina reported August 21, 2026 in a timeline of Upstate Flock-misuse investigations.

Why we recorded this

Access to a government license-plate surveillance network is authorized for law-enforcement purposes, not for tracking a person an officer once dated. Mauldin, South Carolina police officer Ellie Hammond used the department's Flock camera system 166 times over five months to track a former significant other's vehicle, and covered her tracks by logging each search under false justifications -- warrant checks, traffic infractions, welfare checks -- rather than the real reason. This archive records the case because the officer responsible for entering an accurate, auditable reason for each database search was the same person who falsified it, showing how an audit log meant to check misuse can be defeated by the very person it relies on to be honest.

Sources

  1. Mauldin Police Officer Used Flock to Track Ex-Lover 166 Times, Separation Papers Say — FITSNews investigative accessed September 3, 2026
  2. Mauldin officer accused of using FLOCK cameras over 160 times to track ex — FOX Carolina primary accessed September 3, 2026
  3. Upstate officer fired after using Flock camera to track romantic interest 166 times — Post and Courier primary accessed September 3, 2026
  4. TIMELINE: SLED investigates allegations of FLOCK misuse against Upstate officers — FOX Carolina primary accessed September 4, 2026

See also