Two Greer, S.C. officers fired after Flock audit found personal use of license plate cameras

First reported: July 23, 2026 · 1 source

Greer Police Department Corporal Kareem Lynch and Officer Sebastian Echeverry were terminated in late June after the department found they violated its policy on automatic license plate reader use. According to documents cited by FOX Carolina, Lynch searched for a fellow officer he was in a relationship with while logging the queries as "welfare checks" or "city planning," and Echeverry searched for several citizens under an inaccurate "alcohol offenses" justification. City Administrator Andrew Merriman said an audit run through Flock Safety's AI Audit Assistance tool corroborated the initial allegations.

Why this matters

The case shows that ALPR misuse in this instance surfaced through a vendor-run audit rather than independent oversight, and it comes as South Carolina lawmakers have so far declined to advance statewide rules for the technology.

Key facts

Lynch was terminated June 26 and Echeverry on June 29; both terminations were referred to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, which will decide the status of their certifications.
FOX Carolina confirmed seven of 10 Upstate sheriff's offices use Flock cameras, along with five of six police departments in Greenville County — all but Fountain Inn.
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said the system helped track a suspect from Greenville into Spartanburg County during a January 2024 double homicide investigation.
Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said his office keeps footage 30 days and is building a public transparency tool, and said he is not opposed to added legislative oversight.
Two South Carolina bills — one barring storage on third-party servers, one requiring agencies to adopt their own rules — were proposed but failed to advance.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

FOX Carolina Investigates: Are you being watched? Upstate police misconduct case puts spotlight on license plate reader cameras (foxcarolina.com, July 23, 2026)

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About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated August 10, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.