South Fulton residents debate privacy, oversight at Flock town hall
South Fulton residents question Flock camera safety
South Fulton residents attended a town hall with State Sen. Jaha Howard and Flock Safety representatives to demand police oversight and discuss proposed state guardrails on camera surveillance.
SOUTH FULTON, Ga. - South Fulton leaders and residents met Thursday night for an often tense town hall meeting to confront privacy questions and demand stricter oversight over neighborhood Flock surveillance cameras.
South Fulton Flock discussion
What we know:
City of South Fulton leaders hosted the public forum at the Southwest Arts Center to explain how automated license plate readers work and take questions from the community.
A Flock Safety representative told the audience that the cameras take photos of the rear of vehicles rather than drivers or passengers, adding that the system helped locate more than 10,000 people across the country last year and assisted in over 1 million police investigations.
The town hall came after South Fulton Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs and state Sen. Jaha Howard announced a joint push to limit who can access Flock camera databases and establish criminal consequences for those who abuse the technology.
Police departments across Georgia have terminated 40 law enforcement officers for running unauthorized personal searches on the surveillance network. While local agencies can fire or suspend employees who break department policy, officials pointed out that unauthorized searches do not currently violate Georgia criminal law.
Residents at the meeting shared mixed reactions about having the cameras stationed in their neighborhoods.
What they're saying:
Local resident Clark Williams noted he attended to understand why the devices are necessary, while resident Cheryl stated she remains skeptical but wanted to evaluate the pros and cons.
Neighborhood Flock administrator Pete Meadows praised the technology's effectiveness but questioned what oversight South Fulton has established to prevent unauthorized usage.
Howard emphasized that any effective state law must focus on restricting database access and closing loopholes that enable improper searches.
Howard and Gumbs stressed that any new state law must close loopholes and protect citizen privacy.
"Specifically, we can talk about two things: Access and accountability," Howard said. "We are responding across the state to have limited access. You should be doing a real investigation."
Howard added that community feedback will guide the legislation, noting that the best ideas often come from everyday residents rather than elected officials.
Mayor Gumbs emphasized that internal police discipline is not enough to deter bad actors.
"For me accountability is important. As a female and as many women, they want to make sure their safety is of the utmost importance," Gumbs said. "For me it is important to put guardrails. We don't want people out there doing things that are unlawful."
South Fulton leaders push Flock camera guardrails
State Sen. Jaha Howard and South Fulton Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs hosted a public forum at the Southwest Arts Center to push for state guardrails on automatic license plate readers after 40 Georgia officers were fired for misusing Flock cameras.
Proposed camera legislation timeline
What we don't know:
State leaders have not released the specific wording of the proposed bill or outlined the exact criminal penalties that could be attached to unauthorized camera searches. Flock Safety has also not publicly detailed any specific software or security changes it plans to roll out to curb insider abuse.
What's next:
Howard plans to spend the coming weeks reviewing feedback from residents and law enforcement to finalize the bill before state lawmakers return to the Capitol in January.