Georgia Looks at Putting Guardrails on Flock Cameras
Georgia is home to many household-name companies. From Coca-Cola to Home Depot to Delta Air Lines, Georgia has always been an international powerhouse in business.
Among the many companies founded in and continuing to call Georgia home, one has recently drawn the ire of American citizens: Flock Safety. Today, public officials from many municipalities, counties, and States – including Georgia's General Assembly – are facing the challenge of putting guardrails on the company to protect their citizens' rights.
Flock Safety, more commonly referred to simply as Flock, was founded in Atlanta by three Georgia Tech alumni in 2017, creating technology — including automated license plate readers (ALPR), video cameras, and drones — that are intended to help protect local communities by providing instantaneous information directly to law enforcement officials who utilize their services.
While the company's website shows hundreds of examples of its products being used to help locate missing people, preemptively subdue suspects, and help detain violent criminals, many citizens throughout the nation have questioned the constitutionality of how the Flock products are being used.
News reports have documented cases of misuse by law enforcement officials to monitor individuals for personal reasons unrelated to their duties. As more incidents have become headline news, state officials in Flock's home state of Georgia, Republican and Democrat alike, have agreed that guardrails must be put in place to protect individuals within the state.
Throughout Georgia and the nation, municipalities and counties are facing calls to pass ordinances to curb the misuse of Flock systems.
On September 21, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens proposed new rules to govern how Flock safety systems would be approved, used, and monitored throughout Atlanta. The proposal followed an audit of 115,000 searches conducted through the system that flagged 79 search patterns for further investigation. The city ordinance proposal would establish a review and oversight system for all surveillance tools used by the city.
Furthermore, it would also establish a secondary, seven-member Surveillance Technology Review Panel that "would examine higher-risk tools and recommend safeguards, limits, and reporting requirements." The panel will be open to the public and investigate serious allegations of misuse.
Finally, vendors themselves would be prohibited from independently selling data from their systems, ensuring that data from Flock and other systems would remain within the city and could not be sold to private data brokers for a variety of reasons.
If passed, this ordinance would establish standards for how Flock and other surveillance systems are used within the city limits. However, while guardrails are being proposed in Atlanta, another metro-Atlanta city has proposed a full moratorium and revocation of its contract with Flock.
The City of Sugar Hill, located in Gwinnett County, recently proposed an ordinance that would revoke the city's contract with Flock, remove the two cameras the city currently has, and require more votes from the council before the city could install any new cameras.
The proposal is not the first, as Councilman Gary Pirkle first proposed the restriction in August; however, the original proposal was tabled 5-0 after the motion to approve failed to receive a second. The legislation was amended to allow the city manager to approve future camera installations.
However, Councilman Pirkel again submitted a proposal to revoke the current contract, remove the existing cameras, and require affirmative votes from the city council to place any future cameras.
The matter is pending for action before the City Council.
Cities are not the only regulators considering how to address the public's concerns about surveillance cameras.
On August 24, 2026, Senator John Albers (GA-56), who chairs the Committee of Public Safety in the Georgia Senate, announced a bipartisan task force to explore whether legislation was needed to protect against misuse of video surveillance systems.
The Senator's statement acknowledges that "automated license plate readers have proven to be valuable tools" and that "Georgians have no desire to return to the unrest and destruction we witnessed in 2020."
However, he also acknowledged that the technology being provided to law enforcement is only "…as trustworthy as the people and systems that control it." He further announced plans to work alongside the Georgia Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police on a collaborative task force.
This would identify operational improvements, strengthen internal controls and access protocols, and provide clear training and consistent audits internally while studying long-term statutory options to be passed during the next session.
Public concern over Flock has also emerged as an issue in the Georgia governor's race. Both candidates agree that stronger safeguards are needed, though their approaches differ. During their only public debate, hosted by Atlanta News First on October 6, Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and Rick Jackson (R) said technologies such as Flock can help prevent crime and locate individuals. Both also called for strict rules and penalties to deter misuse. However, they disagreed over whether a moratorium should be imposed.
In the debate, Bottoms stated that she is "not opposed to a moratorium on Flock cameras." She then stated that "we have to make sure that the policy is in line with the technology."
Meanwhile, Jackson stated that "based on today, I would not put a moratorium on it because I don't want crime to go up." Jackson believes that there is an achievable solution that could be implemented easily and that there is "no reason that these cameras ought to be abused and there should be security so that they couldn't be abused."
Jackson says the problems of abuse should be addressed rather than stopping all use of the technologies.
No matter which side you stand on in the Flock camera ban issue, both sides of the political aisle – along with residents throughout Georgia – agree that something should be done about video camera surveillance systems.
While there is general concurrence that Flock can and has been helpful in law enforcement activities, lingering concerns remain that residents' privacy is being invaded and that access to the cameras will continue to be misused.
While municipalities and counties currently have the most extensive powers to regulate these cameras, state legislative proposals to bolster privacy protections should be expected during the 2027 session.
Photo Courtesy Flock Safety