By Mark Woolsey
The controversy over Flock Safety cameras-automated license plate readers and vehicle trackers-will get a further airing in Cobb County.
At a Wednesday news conference, Board of Commissioners chair Lisa Cupid noted that at a series of public hearings preceding the commission’s adoption of a $1.4 billion budget last week, “If not in all of those meetings certainly in most there were questions that came up with respect to Flock,” she said.
Hence, the Cobb County Police Department will hold a series of town hall meetings at which usage and the implications of the system will be discussed further, said Cupid.
She said the sessions will be important “as there is a balance as there’s technology that helps out county move forward. There’s also caution we need to take as we are putting measures in place to make sure that we are utilizing that tool in a way that serves the public purpose without undermining the public,” she said.
The American Civil Liberties Union nationally is fighting Flock technology over fears about mass surveillance and the tracking of vehicles through make, model and distinguishing characteristics, stoking concerns of civil liberties violations.
Closer to home, A Conyers police department employee was arrested late last month for alleged misuse of the Flock system. Also in late July. an investigator with the Ogeechee Circuit District Attorney’s Office was arrested and charged with similar misuse. Internal audits of the technology were conducted by the agencies.
And three Coweta County Sheriff’s employees resigned as an internal Flock audit was also done there.
No date has been set for the Cobb hearings.
Follow this link to read about a conversation the Courier had in 2021 with Cobb and Marietta police spokespersons when the camera first began being utilized in Cobb.
Watch Chairwoman Cupid’s press conference below: