COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has suspended Deputy Robert Tischler for one month without pay after an internal audit found he used the office’s Flock license-plate reader database in a way that fell outside his authorized duties, the office announced in a press release issued at 4:59 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The sheriff’s office said Tischler used the Flock database "in a manner that was inconsistent with the deputy’s authorized duties and responsibilities," but it did not share further details about what he did, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Sheriff’s office spokesperson Maria Durant declined to share any additional details with The Columbus Dispatch, which reported it has filed a public records request for the investigation file and the documents about Tischler’s suspension and reassignment.
Tischler, 39, has been with the sheriff’s office since 2015, according to records cited by The Columbus Dispatch. When his one-month suspension ends, he will no longer have access to the Flock system, and he will be reassigned from patrol duties to the corrections division, which operates the county’s corrections centers, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said he ordered the audit proactively after hearing about Flock abuse elsewhere. "We have a responsibility to ensure that the technology entrusted to this office is used appropriately, responsibly, and solely for legitimate law enforcement purposes. That is why we initiated this review proactively," Baldwin said in the release, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Flock cameras photograph passing vehicles and store license plate, time and location data that officers can search later. Supporters in law enforcement say the searches help find stolen cars, missing people and suspects. Critics, including privacy advocates, say the databases amount to mass tracking of drivers who have done nothing wrong, and misuse cases around the country have put agencies’ internal controls under a spotlight this year.
The Franklin County case is the latest in a run of Ohio Flock disputes NewsForce247 has followed this fall. In Akron, an oversight board has asked the city to pause its Flock renewal until an audit is done, and in Dayton, the city said Flock cameras were reinstalled without approval and must come down. Columbus itself paused data sharing in its Flock system in early September amid evidence of abuse by some of its officers, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Durant has previously said the Franklin County agency does not operate stationary cameras of its own, but directly contracts with some townships in the area and uses mobile cameras for limited purposes, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Records from other central Ohio agencies show several departments have also shared Flock data directly with the sheriff’s office, including Newark, Marysville and Bexley, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed: a named deputy, a one-month unpaid suspension, a permanent loss of Flock access and a reassignment to corrections, all announced by the sheriff’s office itself on Friday. What is not yet public: what searches Tischler ran, whose plates he looked up, and whether anyone outside law enforcement was affected. The Columbus Dispatch submitted a request under the Ohio Public Records Act in early August for records of Flock searches, policies and contracts, and reported that Baldwin’s office has not yet provided those documents; its new request seeks the investigation and suspension records as well.
For Franklin County residents, the practical question is what safeguards now surround a database that can reconstruct where a car has been. The sheriff’s office has not announced new limits, training or outside review beyond the audit Baldwin described, and it has not said whether the audit examined other deputies’ searches or only Tischler’s.
What happens next: the records requests will decide how much of this story becomes public. If the investigation file is released, it should show what the misuse involved and when it happened. Tischler’s suspension and reassignment take effect on the schedule the office set Friday, and any further discipline or policy change would come from Baldwin’s office.
Photo: Raymond Wambsgans, CC BY-SA