DUNWOODY, Ga. — When Jason Hunyar began looking into Flock cameras, he wasn’t focused on crime statistics or technology policy.
He was thinking about his infant son.
“My son isn’t even three months old, and he’s been tracked since before he was born,” Hunyar said.
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The Dunwoody resident says he began filing open records requests late last year to understand better who could access data collected by Dunwoody’s Flock cameras.
According to records obtained by Hunyar, Dunwoody Flock camera data was included in more than 17 million searches.
He found that 87 law enforcement agencies technically searched Dunwoody’s data more often than Dunwoody police themselves. The top five:
- Houston police: 961,395
- Dallas police: 537,687
- Gwinnett Police: 387,815
- California Highway Patrol: 275,558
- Louisville Metro: 180,752
Dunwoody police say the high number of searches is due to those agencies using the nationwide search for a specific license plate.
“Flock right now, we’re in the nationwide sharing network, which is over 6,000 external agencies,” Hunyar said. “There are thousands of searches being done, tens of thousands of searches being done per day on every agency that’s in that network.”
The searches do not necessarily mean officers in other states were specifically investigating Dunwoody. Flock’s system allows participating law enforcement agencies to conduct broader searches across networks of participating cameras, meaning Dunwoody data may be included even when the city itself is not the focus of an investigation.
Supporters of the technology say those sharing agreements help solve crimes.
On Thursday, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said a license plate reader technology helped identify a suspect accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl after she missed her school bus.
“If it wasn’t for that technology, would we be here right now having this conversation? If it was not for the technology that they use to identify the suspect. It’s certainly unlikely we would be here today. Maybe not ever,” Capt. Jay Baker said.
However, critics worry about those who misuse the technology.
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More than three dozen law enforcement officers statewide have been arrested, resigned, fired or otherwise disciplined after being accused of misusing the technology, including allegations of stalking and improper searches.
This week, lawmakers and law enforcement leaders announced a task force to examine whether additional safeguards or legal changes are needed.
“Just because the tool is useful for the police doesn’t mean that it’s not breaking our constitutional rights,” Hunyar said.
The concern, he said, is not simply about the cameras themselves but about oversight and accountability.
“I want a better world for my son; this is just not it,” Hunyar said.
Meanwhile, in an email to Channel 2 Action News, Dunwoody police pointed to an Op-Ed Mayor Lynn Deutsch wrote in the Dunwoody Crier, which said in part, “we are significantly strengthening restrictions on outside agencies’ access to our cameras and data. As technology continues to evolve, so will our scrutiny and guardrails. “
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