The City of Dunwoody council members have once again paused renewing their partnership with Flock Safety cameras.
The $200,000 contract has many residents concerned on how data is gathered by the surveillance camera system and who it is shared with.
The issue, which has sparked significant debate, led council members to an unanimous vote in its March 23 meeting to defer the vote once again.
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According to a previous presentation on the program from Flock Safety, the company says its focus remains on both providing information needed by law enforcement agencies while also protecting the civil liberties of residents in the communities it serves.
Flock says its license-plate reading system is designed to have “hard-code safeguards” for the information it uses as well as strict record policies for retention of information and limits on inappropriate access.
Flock reassured council and residents that it explicitly does not contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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The company also said it does not sell or share license plate data and does not operate as a data broker.
Dunwoody Police Chief Mike Carlson previously asked the council to renew the contract to assist with operations at the city’s Real-Time Crime Center, including Flock’s AI-driven surveillance technology.
In a letter to the city council, Carlson said the updated Flock Safety system, OS911, had improved response times for the department, as one of the reasons to approve renewing the program.
“Notably, it has significantly reduced the response time between receipt of calls for service and officer arrival on scene,” Carlson wrote in the letter.
This item is set to be up for discussion on April 13th.
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