Reynoldsburg Police Officers Resign After Flock License Plate Reader Misuse
Two Reynoldsburg, Ohio police officers resigned after internal audits found they had made dozens of unauthorised searches on the city's Flock Safety license plate reader system. One officer searched a former domestic partner's plate 46 times while on medical leave; the other searched a single plate 53 times with inconsistent justifications.
What happened
Two Reynoldsburg police officers resigned after the department discovered through internal audits that they had made unauthorised searches on the city's Flock Safety automated license plate reader system. Mark Nichols resigned on July 13, 2026, and Alissa Birkhimer resigned on July 16, 2026, before the Reynoldsburg Division of Police could complete internal investigations.
According to internal affairs documents, Nichols searched the same license plate 46 times between December 2025 and June 2026, much of which occurred while he was on medical leave. Birkhimer allegedly searched for one license plate 53 times between January and June 2026, initially claiming the searches were related to theft and later stating they were for a missing or endangered person, though investigators could find no connection to a relevant case.
Reported impact
Community members raised concerns about the potential for abuse of automated license plate readers as the technology becomes more widely adopted by law enforcement agencies. A Reynoldsburg resident called for the city to remove its Flock cameras altogether.
Index analysis
The misuse involved searching the system for personal purposes rather than official law enforcement functions. Nichols appeared to search for a plate belonging to his former domestic partner, while Birkhimer's searches could not be linked to legitimate law enforcement cases.
Governance controls
Reynoldsburg Police Chief Curtis Baker stated that the misuse was detected through proactive internal audits conducted by the department. Baker said personal or non-official use of law enforcement databases would not be tolerated and ordered Internal Affairs investigations into each officer's conduct once the unauthorised queries were detected.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.