Columbus, Ohio, Police Lieutenant Overseeing the Flock License Plate Program Suspended on October 30: Tischler Accused of Sharing Data with Federal Immigration Enforcement
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office in Columbus, Ohio, announced on October 30 that Deputy Robert Tischler has been suspended for one month without pay for misusing the Flock license plate reader database. According to investigation records, Tischler made approximately 450 searches on three license plates for personal reasons between April 19 and July 29.
In a news release issued at 4:59 p.m., the sheriff's office said Tischler used the Flock database "in a manner that was inconsistent with the deputy's authorized duties and responsibilities," without further detail. Spokesperson Maria Durant declined to share more, and The Columbus Dispatch has filed a records request for the investigation and the suspension and reassignment documents.
After his suspension, Tischler will no longer have access to the Flock system and will be reassigned from patrol to the corrections division, which operates the county jail facilities. Tischler, 39, has been with the sheriff's office since 2015. Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said in a prepared statement that he initiated the audit proactively after hearing about Flock abuse elsewhere. Records from other central Ohio agencies show Newark, Marysville, and Bexley departments also shared Flock data directly with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, while Columbus paused its own Flock system in early September amid evidence of abuse by some of its officers.
Source: GSM America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：富兰克林县法院（哥伦布）。Sixflashphoto摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Franklin County Courthouse in Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Sixflashphoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
