Athens-Clarke County police fired analyst for tracking ex-wife with Flock cameras

On August 29, 2026, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department (ACCPD) fired Criminal Intelligence Analyst Supervisor Nick Barker, a non-sworn civilian employee, after an internal investigation found he had improperly used the department's Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader system to search his ex-wife's license plate numerous times over several months in 2025. The system is restricted to law-enforcement purposes, and Barker's access to it was not tied to any case.

The investigation began after Barker's ex-wife filed a complaint with Athens police. ACCPD investigators confirmed the improper searches and referred the matter to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for an independent criminal investigation, while the department's own Office of Professional Standards conducts a separate administrative review. Police Chief Jerry Saulters said in a statement that "trust is the foundation of our relationship with the community we serve, and there is no greater responsibility than protecting that trust."

Two days after the firing, Saulters committed to "a complete examination of ACCPD's ALPR technology and how we use these systems," saying conduct that compromises community trust "has no place within the Athens-Clarke County Police Department." As of this writing, no charges have been announced and the GBI's investigation remains open.

The firing follows a pattern seen at other Georgia agencies this year, in which standing employee access to Flock's license-plate database was used for personal, non-law-enforcement purposes and caught only after a complaint or audit rather than by any control built into the system itself — the pattern this archive tracks under the alpr-personal-misuse-by-officers episode.