SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Sandy Springs has terminated Reserve Sgt. Francis Esposito, after an internal investigation, was found to have used the city’s camera system for personal gain and may have engaged in corporate espionage.
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Sandy Springs, like many other cities, uses Flock cameras. The technology allows officers to have a real-time view of the streets and includes technology like license plate readers.
Former Atlanta Detective Vince Velazquez says the technology can be incredibly valuable to solve crimes.
“It’s an invaluable tool for law enforcement to actually solve cases, homicide cases, sexual assault cases,” Velazquez said.“And it’s so valuable for an officer to, like, abuse that, just a personal gain, it’s really unquestionable. It’s just really, really bad behavior.”
According to an investigation, Esposito used his city Flock login to run the license plates of multiple people, and allegedly transferred the data to Signal 8, a company he also worked for.
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“The data is the gold mine for literally any startup, any company that is trying to grow,” Emory University professor Rajiv Garg said.
The investigation concluded that Esposito may have violated multiple Georgia laws, including corporate espionage.
When investigators asked about the allegations, Esposito refused to answer the questions and resigned.
“I think that this officer probably understood the rules and understood what he was doing was wrong,” Velazquez said.
Signal 8 says they never told Esposito to run the license plates, and if Esposito ran the plates, he did so on his own.
The company further states, “At no point did Mr. Esposito share, transmit, or transfer data from Flock Safety or the City of Sandy Springs to Signal 8 Systems.”
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The whistleblower who started the investigation was a former Signal 8 employee, who told investigators the Flock data was used for beta testing and validation of their product.
“It’s clearly a violation of policy and perhaps state law,” Velazquez said. “So for this officer to violate that trust, it makes anyone who lives in this state, or Sandy Springs, or Atlanta, wonder what other police officers may be out there actually running tags.”
While Esposito did attempt to resign, Sandy Springs officially lists Esposito as terminated and has referred his case to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council, which could bar him from ever working in law enforcement again.
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