Tyler Murkerson sues Flock and Coweta sheriff over alleged plate searches
A Georgia business owner alleges deputies searched his plate data to retaliate for an earlier excessive-force suit; Flock disputes the claims.
By Dominic Okoye · Staff Writer
· 3 min read
Georgia small-business owner Tyler Murkerson has sued Flock Safety and the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office, alleging deputies used the company’s license-plate-reader system to search for and monitor his vehicle in retaliation for a prior excessive-force lawsuit. The Tyler Murkerson Flock lawsuit puts the vendor alongside a local agency in an unresolved dispute over the controls governing police searches of vehicle records.
Murkerson alleges that his plate was searched repeatedly while his earlier case against the sheriff’s department was pending, and that deputies followed or monitored him as he traveled to and from home, Ars Technica reported. The allegations have not been tested in court. The supplied material does not identify the court, case number, damages sought, the dates of every search or any judicial ruling.
The dispute follows a February 2023 arrest by sheriff’s deputies over an alleged seatbelt violation. The charges were dropped months later, according to Ars Technica. Murkerson sued the department in September 2024, alleging excessive force in connection with that encounter; that case was recently settled.
What does Tyler Murkerson’s lawsuit allege?
The October 8 complaint alleges the search entries for Murkerson’s vehicle used the rationales “info” and “37.” It contends that neither entry corresponded to an investigation, case, incident or call for service. Murkerson’s lawyers further allege that, at the time, Flock accepted arbitrary text in a free-form justification field rather than requiring a verifiable case identifier.
WSB-TV reported that Murkerson found five searches through Have I Been Flocked while he was suing the department, with at least two using those descriptions. That is Murkerson’s account, not independently verified system data in the available reporting.
Chris Hall, Murkerson’s attorney, told Ars Technica that the suit alleges violations of Georgia law and the Fourth Amendment. Those are the plaintiff’s legal claims, not findings by a court.
How has Flock responded?
Flock told Ars Technica that it disagrees with the lawsuit’s claims and intends to defend its position in court. The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Ars; it told WSB-TV that it does not comment on potential litigation.
Separately, Flock announced on August 13 that it would require case codes for all law-enforcement searches by the end of 2026. The company said emergency searches could bypass that requirement but would be flagged for administrator review. Flock also said it would require its Audit Assistance feature for law-enforcement customers by year-end and introduce proactive lockouts for activity meeting its criteria for abnormal behavior.
Those are company-announced product and policy changes. They do not establish that Murkerson was improperly searched, that the earlier free-text design caused the alleged conduct, or that the changes resolve the legal questions in his case.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
