A Covington police officer ended up on the wrong side of the law Wednesday night after an internal audit caught him improperly digging through license plate reader records. State agents arrested former officer Michael Canty just before 10 p.m. and brought him straight to the Newton County Jail.
Canty faces ten criminal counts, starting with five felonies for violating his oath as a public officer. On top of that, investigators hit him with five misdemeanor charges for illegally obtaining or using license plate data collected by law enforcement cameras.
The trouble started inside the Covington Police Department when routine monitoring flagged unusual activity on the network. Supervisors noticed a spike in system searches coming from Canty’s account, showing usage far higher than what a typical officer needs on shift.
Department leaders called Canty in for an interview to explain why he was running so many queries. Supervisors immediately put him on administrative leave while internal investigators launched a full review of every search logged under his credentials.
That detailed check confirmed the department’s suspicions. After seeing the full scope of his technology usage, police leadership moved to terminate Canty’s employment on July 27, 2026.
Canty had worked for the department for less than four years, having joined the Covington force in October 2022. Following his firing, Covington police handed their findings over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which led directly to his arrest.
Covington police publicly stated that they will not tolerate employees misusing technology or breaking trust with the community. Canty remains booked in Newton County, while local authorities note his mugshot has not been made public as of 11:01 a.m.
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