Eric Center

Introduction

Eric Center is a former master deputy with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) in Upstate South Carolina who resigned effective immediately in September 2026, during an internal affairs investigation into his alleged misuse of the Flock Safety license-plate-reader surveillance system. The sheriff’s office said Center used Flock “for a purpose outside of the authorized reasons for accessing the system,” but the 10th Circuit Solicitor’s office advised that his conduct “constituted a violation of agency policy and did not warrant a criminal investigation”. The resignation of a decorated, award-selected deputy over alleged surveillance abuse made Center the latest name in a string of South Carolina Flock controversies that FITSNews has documented across Greer, Mauldin and Colleton County.

Background Information

Center was sworn in as a deputy with the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office in September 2023, according to ACSO’s official Facebook page. In a rapid rise, subsequent posts showed he went on to appear on Season 37 of the reality television show “Cops” and was selected by his fellow deputies to receive “Deputy of the Year” honors in 2024. Prior to joining ACSO, Center claims on his LinkedIn profile to have served at both the Laurens Police Department (LPD) and the Greenville Police Department (GPD). At the time of his departure he served as a master deputy with the agency.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The misuse described in this section is an allegation made by the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office and reported by FITSNews. The 10th Circuit Solicitor’s office advised that Center’s conduct constituted a violation of agency policy and did not warrant a criminal investigation, and ACSO stated there will be no criminal charges stemming from the incident. This page describes an internal administrative matter, not a criminal case.

Days after confirming the story with other media outlets, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office conceded to FITSNews that Center had resigned amid an internal affairs investigation into his alleged abuse of Flock Safety — an increasingly embattled, third-party surveillance system. In the department’s official statement, ACSO said Center had used Flock “for a purpose outside of the authorized reasons for accessing the system,” adding that it immediately opened an internal affairs investigation once the issue came to light.

“During the course of the internal affairs investigation,” ACSO Sgt. Kendall Cash told FITSNews via email, “Deputy Center resigned from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, effective immediately”.

The sheriff’s office further stated that it conferred with the office of 10th Circuit Solicitor Micah Black, who advised that Center’s conduct “constituted a violation of agency policy and did not warrant a criminal investigation.” ACSO’s statement concluded: “Accordingly, this matter was handled as an internal administrative/policy matter, and there will be no criminal charges stemming from the incident”. ACSO did not disclose how many unauthorized searches Center allegedly conducted.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The immediate consequence for Center was the loss of his law-enforcement position: his resignation took effect immediately, mid-investigation, ending a career that had earned him peer-selected “Deputy of the Year” recognition just two years earlier. FITSNews framed his case as part of a growing list of Palmetto State officers who’ve allegedly abused Flock: the floodgates opened two months earlier when two Greer Police Department officers were terminated after using Flock to track ex-lovers, followed by a Mauldin officer who allegedly used the system to track yet another ex-lover 166 times, and at least two Colleton County Sheriff’s Office lieutenants who between them purportedly racked up more than 2,760 unauthorized searches. Amid the relentless bad press, the city of Greer temporarily suspended Flock, while Oconee County Council advanced an ordinance to ban the cameras countywide — even as departments publicized good uses, such as Spartanburg County Sheriff Bill Rhyne crediting the cameras just that week with helping locate a 12-year-old girl who’d been abducted in South Carolina.

FITSNews also placed the no-charge decision in a critical context: Solicitor Micah Black is the same official who declined to pursue state-level charges against former Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright the previous fall, despite admitting in his declination letter to having reviewed “overwhelming evidence” against the career lawman — a decision that cost Black widespread support within the Upstate law enforcement community. Wright was eventually sentenced to 41 months in federal prison.

Current Status

Center has resigned from the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office, effective immediately, and the internal affairs investigation that prompted the resignation has concluded with the matter handled as an internal administrative/policy matter. Per the solicitor’s advice cited by ACSO, there will be no criminal charges stemming from the incident, and no charges have been filed. ACSO has not disclosed the number of unauthorized searches Center allegedly conducted, and no post-resignation statement from Center himself appears in the coverage.

Impact on Their Career/Life

In roughly three years, Center went from a 2023 swearing-in to national television exposure on “Cops,” to peer-selected “Deputy of the Year” in 2024, to a mid-investigation resignation over alleged surveillance abuse in September 2026. The fall illustrates both the speed of the Flock backlash across South Carolina and the limits of accountability in these cases: the conduct that ended his ACSO career was deemed a policy violation rather than a crime, meaning his departure was the entirety of the formal consequence. His name now sits alongside officers from Greer, Mauldin and Colleton County in the state’s expanding record of alleged Flock misuse.