A former Sarasota officer, Cory Waiters, was fired and arrested after investigators found he queried the same Florida license plate 358 times in Flock Safety logs, including 121 times in one day. A USA Today reporter first flagged the pattern, prompting an internal audit that traced Waiters’ Flock and DAVID activity back to 2023. He faces two felony computer-related charges, official misconduct, and a misdemeanor; bond was set at $5,500. The case echoes a separate Haines City arrest that led to stricter Flock-audit policies.
Sarasota Officer Fired After 358 License-Plate Queries — 121 Searches in One Day
Image Credit: FOX 13 Tampa Bay / YouTube.
A former Sarasota police officer has been dismissed and charged after investigators say he repeatedly queried the same Florida license plate in law enforcement databases without a legitimate police purpose.
What Happened
According to a probable cause affidavit, 38-year-old former officer Cory Waiters ran the same Florida license plate through the Flock Safety automated license-plate reader system 358 times, including 121 searches on a single day. Investigators say the plate was not tied to any active case Waiters was handling during the relevant period.
How the Case Came to Light
The probe began after a USA Today reporter, Jack Lemnus, flagged a pattern in publicly available Flock audit logs and emailed Sarasota Police on Aug. 6, 2025. Lemnus identified roughly 335 queries tied to Waiters’ account between May 20 and July 16, 2025; each entry reportedly used the same justification code, "13V," described by investigators as indicating a "suspicious vehicle." That tip prompted an internal review and a broader audit.
Audit Findings
Sarasota Police auditors extended the review back to August 2023 and found a total of 358 Flock searches for the single plate. Records indicate the tag belonged to a 2025 Land Rover and had previously been registered to a gray 2016 Infiniti owned by the same person. The audit also showed multiple lookups in DAVID (Driver and Vehicle Information Database), which displays a warning that access is restricted to authorized law-enforcement business purposes and explicitly forbids personal use.
Image Credit: Guessing Headlights.
Department Response and Charges
Sarasota Police placed Waiters on paid administrative leave on Aug. 7 and completed an agency-wide compliance audit on Aug. 14. Waiters was fired and arrested on Aug. 19. He faces two felony counts for offenses related to improper use of computer systems and official misconduct, plus a misdemeanor charge tied to Florida public-records law. Local reports say a judge set combined bond at $5,500 at his first court appearance.
Related Case and Policy Changes
The Sarasota case followed closely on another Florida incident: Haines City Officer Christopher Goodson was arrested Aug. 11 after investigators say he ran his estranged wife’s vehicle through Flock 717 times between September 2024 and June 2026. Goodson reportedly gave varied justifications for his searches despite no criminal investigation and faces felony charges. In response, Haines City instituted quarterly lieutenant-led audits of Flock usage to monitor search reasons, frequency, patterns and ties to legitimate case numbers.
Privacy And Oversight Concerns
Flock’s automated license-plate readers capture plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, location and time. That data can be invaluable for locating stolen vehicles, finding missing persons or reconstructing suspect movements. But when authorized users mine that data for personal reasons, repeated detections can reveal sensitive routine information—where someone works, who they visit, places of worship and more. The publicly available audit logs in this case demonstrate that searches leave trails that can prompt outside scrutiny.
Presumption Of Innocence: Waiters has been charged but not convicted and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Note: Police have not publicly identified the vehicle owner or described any relationship between that person and Waiters.
Help us improve.
