Charlotte Officer Charged for Illicit Access to Police Databases

Seth Daniel Elliott, a 25‑year‑old officer with the Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Police Department, was arrested and charged with illegally accessing a government computer, a Class 1 misdemeanor. On June 16 he used the state‑run FLOCK camera system and the CJLEADS criminal‑justice database to look up the license‑plate information of an undercover officer, then passed the results to a target of a Watauga County drug investigation.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation took Elliott into custody on July 29, released him on a $15,000 bond, and placed him on unpaid administrative leave pending internal investigations by CMPD and its Internal Affairs Division. CMPD Chief Estella Patterson said the misuse of law‑enforcement technology is a betrayal of public trust and will be prosecuted.