Admitting he made a mistake, Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann is now calling in a special prosecutor to examine the case of a sheriff’s deputy who misused the Flock camera system to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Germann announced earlier this week that the deputy, who misused the License Plate Reader System three times, would not be charged with a crime. He has since decided the matter is best suited to an outside investigation.
“While we can all agree that law enforcement’s actions in this case were improper, I now believe the issue of whether those improper actions rise to the level of criminal conduct be evaluated by another prosecutor,” Germann said in a statement provided to the Post-Tribune late Wednesday afternoon.
Germann’s about-face comes as the use of the Flock License Plate Reader system is under increased scrutiny due to privacy concerns. Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson has announced that an officer was suspended and then resigned after misusing the system, and that an investigation is underway in that case.
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Portage Mayor Austin Bonta, meanwhile, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that the city’s contract with Flock is up at the end of the year and he has scheduled a meeting for Sept. 14 for a presentation on how the cameras work and what they are used for and not used for by police, and the policies that Portage Police have in place for it.
Germann, Richardson and Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon, among other law enforcement officials, have said the cameras can be a valuable tool when used appropriately, but were not intended to be used for private purposes.
Balon has said that License Plate Readers are a valuable tool for fighting crime and helping citizens in need, “However, as with any law enforcement tool, if they are used inappropriately, we will hold our Officers accountable for their misuse.”
The prosecutor’s decision to request a special investigation into the sheriff’s deputy is within his discretion, Balon said Thursday.
“I will provide any and all information to the special prosecutor that is requested within the scope of the law, just as I have always done with the Prosecutor’s Office,” Balon said.
Germann said he was calling in a special prosecutor for further review “to put the public at ease that my decision not to prosecute is in no way related to any relationship that my office has with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department.”
Jacob Taulman has been appointed as special prosecutor, per an order filed Thursday by Porter Superior Court Judge Rebecca Buitendorp. Taulman is the Jasper County prosecutor.
Germann said in the statement that it had come to his attention that his decision not to charge the deputy, who has faced disciplinary measures for misusing the Flock system, had “displeased” the community.
“I readily admit that it was in fact a mistake for me not to have a special prosecutor appointed from the outset,” Germann said in the statement, sent late Wednesday afternoon. “I apologize for not having considered that possibility until Wednesday morning.”
Balon disclosed the misuse of the Flock License Plate Reader system by an officer in an Aug. 28 release and said the officer, who used the database to search for a specific license plate, had been demoted, suspended without pay, received an indefinite suspension from the use of Flock, and ordered to receive remedial ethics training.
Germann, in a previous release, said “a full and fair” internal investigation by Balon revealed the officer logged in as himself three times over a period of several months.
“While a relatively minor violation, the conduct of the officer was still a mistake,” Germann had said, adding that as a result, the officer was disciplined by Balon. “However, in this case no crime was committed by this officer.”
Germann went on to point out that the Porter County case had “little or no similarity” to a case in Jackson County involving a former sheriff’s deputy, Skylar Thompson, who reportedly used the Flock database more than 2,000 times and justified the searches by fraudulently alleging the purpose was related to “City Planning/Traffic Analysis.”
The Porter County case came to light after the sheriff’s department received a complaint from a citizen who discovered that their license plate had been run by the department through the Flock License Plate Reader system for a reason that was not consistent with department policy, according to an Aug. 28 release from Balon.
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“I immediately ordered an internal affairs investigation, and the outcome of the investigation confirmed that an Officer did enter the citizen’s license plate into the Flock LPR system. The reason for the entry violated our policy,” Balon said in the release.
Balon said in the release that the sheriff’s department doesn’t normally comment on internal affairs investigations, but “in light of the national focus on the issues surrounding License Plate Readers, I want to comment on a recent investigation involving our agency.”
A spokesman with the sheriff’s department declined to release additional information, including the officer’s rank, how long he had been with the department and when misuse of the system was discovered, because that information was part of the internal affairs investigation.
The policy violation occurred under a previous version of the department’s Flock policy, Balon had said in the release. The officer’s actions violated the policy in effect at the time.
“Since then, we have further strengthened our policy and implemented additional safeguards governing the use of the Flock system,” Balon has said.
A case number and reason for the search are now required for all Flock searches conducted by any member of the department, Balon said. “We are also utilizing Flock’s Audit system, which uses Artificial Intelligence to identify searches that may be suspicious or otherwise raise concerns.”
Those searches are then flagged for review by the department. The additional safeguards, Balon has said, provide another level of oversight and accountability for use of the Flock system.