Sarasota, Fla. officer misused Flock and DAVID databases 335 times to track ex-partner's vehicle; fired, arrested

On August 19, 2026, the Sarasota Police Department fired and arrested Officer Cory Waiters, 38, a nearly three-year veteran of the department, after an internal affairs and criminal investigation confirmed he had misused two restricted law-enforcement databases -- the Flock automated license-plate-reader network and Florida's Driver and Vehicle Information Database (DAVID) -- to repeatedly search a vehicle registered to his ex-partner. The case originated with a USA Today reporter's own public-records analysis of Flock audit logs, which identified an abnormal pattern of 335 searches of the same license plate over roughly two months in mid-2025, including 121 searches in a single day in June, with no connection to any active investigation. The reporter emailed the department about the findings on August 6, 2026, prompting Sarasota police to open an internal affairs investigation that day.

Waiters was placed on paid administrative leave on August 7 while the department conducted an agency-wide compliance audit of Flock and DAVID access; that audit, completed August 14, found no other officers had similarly misused the systems. On August 19, investigators concluded Waiters's searches served no legitimate law-enforcement purpose, and the department terminated him and had him arrested the same day. He was booked into the Sarasota County Jail and charged with a felony count of offenses against computer users, systems, networks and electronic devices; a felony count of official misconduct; and a misdemeanor count of violating public records law.

Police Chief Rex Troche said in a statement that "we take allegations of misconduct seriously," adding that "when an agency member's actions fall short of the standards and professionalism we expect, we will address it appropriately and without hesitation." Both Flock and DAVID require officers to log a reason for each search, but neither system flagged Waiters's pattern in real time; it surfaced only when an outside reporter's own audit-log analysis prompted the department to look back through the records.

This archive has recorded more than twenty comparable cases of law-enforcement officers using Flock and similar license-plate networks to track ex-partners, relatives, and other people in their personal lives, part of a documented nationwide pattern. This case is a notable variant: the misuse surfaced through a journalist's own audit-log analysis and public-records inquiry, not a department self-audit or an internal complaint.

Updates

2026-08-20 — First court appearance; bond set at $5,500 [5, 6]

Waiters made his first court appearance on August 20, 2026, and bond was set at $5,500 across the three charges. No plea had been entered as of the appearance.