Lt. Ruben Carter and Lt. Kevin Smalls Fired After Flock Camera Audit

Two lieutenants from the same South Carolina sheriff’s office were fired eleven days apart — and the same internal audit caught both of them. Lt. Ruben Carter ran more than 2,700 unauthorized searches on a license plate camera network with no case attached to any of them. Lt. Kevin Smalls used the same system 62 times in six months, including on vehicles registered to his own spouse.

Both men are out of the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office, and both cases have been referred to the State Law Enforcement Division for criminal investigation. Neither has been charged.

The lieutenant with 2,700 searches

Carter was hired in 1998 and spent roughly 28 years with the agency, most recently assigned to the Edisto Beach area. According to the internal audit, he ran more than 2,700 unauthorized searches of Flock camera data over about one year, targeting 14 individuals — a list that included himself, fellow deputies, friends, and former associates.

Flock cameras log the time, location, and plate of every vehicle that passes. Police query the network to locate suspects, and the rules are supposed to be simple: a case, and a reason. The audit found no legitimate case attached to any of Carter’s searches.

The 48-hour audit

The timeline is the part that should stick. On August 11, Sheriff Guerry L. “Buddy” Hill Jr. directed the Office of Professional Responsibility to take over all Flock audits. On August 12, the agency activated Flock’s automated Audit Assistance tool. On August 13, it flagged Carter.

Before that, audits were manual, limited to 30-day increments, and run by a captain in the investigations division who was also the system’s own administrator — the auditor grading his own homework. A real audit existed for 48 hours before a year of searching came to an end.

Carter was terminated August 20, and Hill asked SLED to investigate him the same day.

The second lieutenant

Eleven days later, on August 31, the audit surfaced Lt. Kevin Smalls: 62 unauthorized searches over six months that the agency said were conducted “for personal reasons,” including vehicles registered to his spouse and other acquaintances.

One date stands out. The request for SLED to investigate Smalls went in on August 18 — thirteen days before he was fired. For almost two weeks, he kept the badge while a state investigation was already moving.

The department’s answer

Hill characterized the conduct as individual misconduct, not an agency-wide problem, and said in a statement: “The public trusts law enforcement to use these systems properly, and that trust must never be abused.”

After the second firing, the sheriff’s office changed its rules. Deputies lost individual access to Flock entirely, searches now run through the Communications Division only, temporary access is granted case by case with audits, and reviews now happen weekly.

What happens next

Both cases are with SLED, which confirmed it is looking into potential criminal conduct. Neither lieutenant has been charged or arrested — both walked out with the state’s review pending. Colleton is not alone, either: two Greer, SC officers were fired in June for tracking residents, including one officer’s romantic interest, and reporting indicates additional Colleton terminations could be forthcoming. One Walterboro resident told ABC 4, “If this is happening with our sheriffs, we should be worried.”

Every finding so far comes from an internal audit and a termination — not a court. Both men are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, and SLED’s investigations will decide whether these remain personnel cases or become criminal ones. This post will be updated as the SLED investigations and any court filings develop.

If a real audit caught a year of abuse within 48 hours of being switched on — how long were the plates being run before anyone was watching?

Sources
Live 5 News (WCSC) · Post & Courier · ABC 4 (WCIV) · FITSNews · Count on 2 (WCBD) · WSPA

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