SAVANNAH, Ga. —
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A now-former Savannah police officer gave her husband, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, access to the police department’s Flock license plate reader system, which he used to conduct hundreds of searches tied to ICE investigations, according to newly obtained documents reviewed by WJCL 22 News.
The records show Amber Harpe's husband did not have his own Flock account through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Harpe acknowledged giving him her Savannah Police Department username and password.
Her husband told investigators he used the account to locate ICE targets who had active arrest warrants. He said every search was related to his federal law enforcement work and denied using the system for personal reasons.
The Savannah Police Department fired Harpe after concluding that she knowingly gave an unauthorized person access to a sensitive police system, violated department policy and compromised safeguards designed to track who was using law enforcement data.
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The investigation began after an internal audit flagged an unusually high volume of searches through Harpe’s account between January and July 2026.
The audit identified 983 search entries involving 97 identifiable license plates from Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
South Carolina plates represented most of the activity. Forty-eight South Carolina plates accounted for 788 search entries, according to the records. Department documents also noted that most registered vehicle owners identified in the audit were Hispanic.
During a July 27 administrative interview, Harpe told investigators she did not recognize the names connected to many of the searches. She said her husband performed most of them.
Harpe attributed the searches involving Maryland and South Carolina plates, along with most of those involving Georgia vehicles, to her husband.
She said she rarely used Flock herself and generally accessed it to help investigate missing-person cases involving behavioral health patients.
Harpe acknowledged that she allowed her husband to use her credentials and understood she was not permitted to share her access.
Below file video: Savannah city leaders defend Flock technology after alleged misuse by police employees
Harpe’s husband’s name is redacted in the documents obtained by WJCL 22 News. However, audio from interview between Savannah Police and the husband identifies him Tyler Harpe, a federal ICE agent.
During an Aug. 3 interview with Savannah police investigators, Harpe confirmed that he asked his wife for her login information because he did not have Flock access through his federal job.
He said ICE had already developed “target packages” for the people he searched and that those individuals had active arrest warrants. Flock allowed him to try to locate them while working in the field, according to the investigative report.
Tyler Harpe estimated that he used the account for about four months. He said he stopped roughly three weeks before his interview because the agency no longer conducted vehicle stops and he no longer needed the system.
Harpe gave investigators a slightly different timeline, saying her husband stopped about a week before her interview because he was concerned she could face discipline.
He denied searching for relatives, former romantic partners or anyone for personal reasons. He maintained that every person he searched was an ICE target and said the Flock information helped his agency locate wanted people with criminal histories.
He also acknowledged that using another officer’s account could violate policy.
“The investigation established that Amber Harpe provided her Flock Safety credentials to her husband,” the final report said. “Both provided consistent statements that the searches involved ICE targets and were conducted for law-enforcement purposes.”
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In the documents, Maj. Michelle Halford wrote that SPD does not participate in federal immigration enforcement. She said the demographic pattern identified in the audit, combined with Harpe’s husband’s role as an ICE agent, raised concerns that department resources had been used without authorization to further immigration enforcement.
Harpe’s decision gave her husband the ability to search for and track people through a Savannah police system even though he did not have independent access through his federal employment, Halford wrote.
She said the arrangement exposed the Police Department to legal and reputational risks.
“Public trust is non-negotiable,” Halford wrote. “These tools exist to keep our community safe, not for personal or unauthorized use.”
The investigation did not find that Harpe violated Georgia’s law governing automated license plate readers. The disciplinary case instead centered on an SPD information-management policy prohibiting employees from allowing unauthorized people to access city or department software.
Below file video: 6 Savannah police employees fired after alleged misuse of Flock cameras
Department leaders agreed that Harpe violated policy, but they initially disagreed over whether she should be fired.
Interim Maj. Max Nowinsky sustained the allegation and recommended an eight-hour suspension.
Nowinsky wrote that Harpe showed poor judgment by providing direct access to her husband. However, he also emphasized that investigators found no evidence the searches were conducted for personal reasons or personal gain.
He cited Georgia law allowing law enforcement agencies, including federal agencies, to exchange captured license plate data for legitimate law enforcement purposes.
Nowinsky also considered Harpe’s work history. She joined SPD in March 2020, served in the Behavioral Health Unit and had no prior disciplinary record. Department documents described her as a well-respected employee.
Halford rejected the proposed one-day suspension and recommended termination, citing the intentional sharing of credentials, recurring unauthorized access and scale of the activity.
Assistant Police Chief Robert Gavin agreed that Harpe should be fired.
Gavin acknowledged that state law permits law enforcement agencies to share license plate information for legitimate purposes. He said that authority did not allow Harpe to share her personal login information or let another person access the system under her identity.
“Credentials are assigned to one authorized user to ensure accountability, audit integrity, and system security,” Gavin wrote.
Because the searches were recorded under Harpe’s account, the system’s audit trail identified her — not her husband — as the user.
Gavin concluded that Harpe knowingly allowed her husband to bypass SPD’s security protocols and undermined the department’s ability to oversee the use of sensitive information.
RELATED: Former Savannah police employees appeal firings over alleged Flock camera misuse
Harpe accepted responsibility for sharing her credentials but argued that firing her was excessive.
In her appeal, Harpe said her husband was a certified federal law enforcement officer and that every search was conducted for law enforcement purposes.
“The violation occurred because I gave my husband, who is a certified law enforcement officer with the Department of Homeland Security, access to my Flock account,” Harpe wrote. “Every search he conducted was for law enforcement use only and not for personal gain.”
Harpe said she was trying to assist another agency in the same way she would expect another agency to help Savannah police.
She also argued that the result would have been no different if she had personally conducted each search at her husband’s request and then provided him with the information.
“There was no malicious intent, no personal gain, and no intent to harm the Department or undermine public trust,” Harpe wrote.
She asked department leaders to consider her clean disciplinary history, years of service and the investigation’s finding that the searches were related to law enforcement work. She requested a written reprimand or, at most, the one-day suspension Nowinsky recommended.
Gavin denied her appeal Aug. 11, and the police chief’s office agreed with the termination recommendation two days later.
Below file video: GBI arrests 4 ousted Savannah Police employees
Harpe requested a hearing before Savannah’s Civil Service Board on Aug. 19. City records show her termination took effect Sept. 26.
She withdrew the appeal around Sept. 28, and her Oct. 13 Civil Service Board hearing was canceled.
The newly obtained documents do not explain why she withdrew the appeal.
Harpe’s case was part of a wider SPD investigation into alleged Flock misuse. Several other former employees were accused of searching for romantic partners, former partners or other people for personal reasons.