Dickens to introduce citywide surveillance rules after audit flags 79 APD Flock camera searches

Our Take

Credit to Atlanta News First for surfacing this one: an internal audit flagged 79 searches of Flock ALPR data by the Atlanta Police Department, and only now, after the numbers became public, is Mayor Andre Dickens rushing out citywide legislation to set "permanent oversight and privacy rules." That order of operations should bother you. These cameras have been quietly scanning plates and building location histories on ordinary Atlantans for a while — the rulebook is arriving after the fact, not before.

This is the pattern we see everywhere Flock gets installed: no public debate before deployment, vague promises about "limited use," and then an audit or records request reveals searches nobody can fully explain. Seventy-nine flagged queries isn't a rounding error — it's a sign that without hard technical guardrails, access logs, and independent audits, these systems get used however whoever holds the login wants. Atlanta's proposed ordinance might be a step forward, but a city council can rewrite or gut privacy rules just as easily as it passes them, especially once political pressure fades and the cameras keep running.

If you live in or around Atlanta, don't wait for the next audit to find out how your plate data is being queried — push for public reporting requirements, audit trails, and real penalties for misuse before this legislation gets watered down in committee. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and hit take action for tools to push back on unchecked ALPR surveillance in your own city.