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License-plate readers · Fulton County

Fulton County

Using license-plate readers · 3 agencies documented

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Atlanta Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
APD has not publicly said how many Flock cameras are in the city (WSB-TV, Sept. 2026). WSB-TV reported 347 mounted readers in 2018. The Connect Atlanta network listed 28,626 integrated and 17,314 registered cameras of all kinds as of July 23, 2026; those are video cameras, not only plate readers.
  1. 2018 WSB-TV reported that Atlanta police had 347 mounted plate readers, which collected about 29.5 million plates in June, and that reader alerts had led to 209 arrests through August. (WSB-TV / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2018)
  2. May 4, 2021 City Council approved Resolution 21-R-3299, sponsored by J.P. Matzigkeit, letting the city accept donated access to Flock plate-reader cameras for police. It added Flock as a camera vendor option alongside Genetec in a partnership with the Atlanta Police Foundation. (Fulton Neighbor / Appen Media, May 5, 2021)
  3. Nov. 12, 2025 APD released its Flock audit for Jan. 1 to Nov. 7, 2025 in response to an Open Records request. In that period APD ran 323,292 searches, and nearly 4,500 agencies searched APD's cameras over 10.6 million times. It also listed 15 searches on March 20-24, 2025, labeled 'locate alien' or 'ERO assist', made with APD credentials by an investigator on an FBI task force and by a user APD said was not its employee. APD said it had not helped any federal agency with immigration enforcement that year. (Atlanta Community Press Collective, Nov. 13, 2025)
  4. Sept. 10, 2026 In a letter, Chief Darin Schierbaum reported that an audit of 115,578 Flock searches made in 2026 flagged 79 (about 0.07%) for internal review. The city said a flag does not mean a rule was broken. APD said it had added monthly audits, updated training, routed outside agencies' requests through APD task force officers, and restricted retired reserve accounts. (Axios, Sept. 16, 2026; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 15, 2026; FOX 5 Atlanta, Sept. 15, 2026)
  5. Sept. 15, 2026 Dickens announced an ordinance to put plate-reader and camera rules into city law: authorized and prohibited uses, monthly internal audits, quarterly public reporting, annual independent and vendor compliance reviews, and a public inventory of the technology. It was expected on the Sept. 21 council agenda, with a final vote sought within 60 days. (FOX 5 Atlanta, Sept. 15, 2026; WSB-TV, Sept. 15, 2026; WSB-TV, Sept. 20, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • No APD Flock contract amount was found. The 2021 resolution covers donated access, and Atlanta's Legistar API has no items after 2022.
  • Per ACPC (July 2026), the council renewed the Hartsfield-Jackson airport's Flock contract at its June 15, 2026 meeting. The airport is a city department separate from APD, and no amount was given.
  • Connect Atlanta camera totals are from ACPC's July 28, 2026 report citing the Connect Atlanta website (not opened).
  • Whether the Sept. 2026 ordinance was introduced or passed has not been confirmed.
  • Also see ga261021-a-acpc-cameras-0728.

From agency records.

Sandy Springs Police Department

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
In 2019 the city planned 99 readers (42 Flock, 57 Genetec); no current count found.
Contract
Flock Safety: $7,521 month (proposed, 42 cameras) · approved by Sandy Springs City Council · Vote scheduled Nov. 5, 2019 alongside Genetec ($32,331.08/month for 57 cameras); total $39,852.02/month. Outcome not confirmed in source. (Rough Draft Atlanta, Nov. 5, 2019)
  1. Nov. 5, 2019 The council was scheduled to vote on a 99-camera plate-reader network: 57 Genetec cameras and 42 Flock cameras for $39,852.02 a month combined. Two Flock cameras had been running since June 2019, and 12 more had been bought. (Rough Draft Atlanta, Nov. 5, 2019)
  2. Aug. 20, 2025 Sandy Springs classified a reserve officer and former sergeant as terminated effective Aug. 20, 2025, saying he had not cooperated with an internal investigation. The department sustained policy-violation findings; its internal-affairs report alleged that he ran Flock searches from January to April 2025 for a private company that employed him. (Appen Media, Oct. 10, 2025)
Conflicts and open questions
  • ACPC reported in November 2025 that Appen Media had found Sandy Springs police ran Flock searches listing 'ERO' as the reason (ga261021-a-acpc-apd-1113).
  • Genetec readers were also planned in 2019.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Johns Creek Police Department

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Flock Safety
Cameras
Count not documented
Access to cameras in six neighborhoods (2019); no city-owned count found.
  1. Sept. 23, 2019 The council voted 4-2 for an MoU with Flock giving police access to images from Flock cameras installed by six neighborhood HOAs and letting police share hot lists for alerts. (Appen Media, Oct. 7, 2019)
Conflicts and open questions
  • No current use found.

Reported by news outlets; agency records not yet obtained.

Statewide

  1. May 8, 2018 Gov. Nathan Deal signed House Bill 79 (Act 452), which passed the House 169-2 and the Senate 47-0 and took effect July 1, 2018. It added a Title 35 code section limiting how long police may keep plate-reader data, allowing agencies to share it, setting penalties for misuse and requiring policies. (LegiScan, May 8, 2018)
  2. July 1, 2018 Under O.C.G.A. 35-1-22, police may collect plate-reader data but may access it only for a law enforcement purpose, defined as investigating an offense or activity an agency has started. Data must be destroyed within 30 months unless it is tied to a toll violation or needed for a law enforcement purpose. Agencies may share data with each other and may hire a company to hold it. Each agency must keep a use and training policy. Misuse is a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, and the data is exempt from the Open Records Act. (FindLaw, March 28, 2024; National Conference of State Legislatures, Sept. 28, 2026; Georgia General Assembly, 2018)
  3. July 1, 2018 The Department of Public Safety's plate-reader policy 6.09, in the version revised July 1, 2018, limits use to law enforcement purposes, names the Criminal Interdiction Unit commander as LPR administrator, requires officers to verify a hit before a traffic stop, logs data shared with other agencies, and purges data after 30 months unless it involves a toll violation or an investigation. It also covers readers owned by the State Road and Tollway Authority for HOT-lane enforcement. (Georgia Department of Public Safety, July 1, 2018)
  4. Oct. 16, 2024 GDOT guidance took effect for police plate readers on state routes and interstates. Agencies apply for a single permit per jurisdiction, renewed every three years. The guidance sets spacing limits (generally one reader per direction per 2 miles of state route in a city, one per direction between interstate interchanges, plus extras at city or county lines). The requesting agency signs a concurrence letter promising to make the data available to the wider law enforcement community at no cost and sends it through the Department of Public Safety. GDOT will revoke the permit if the data stops being available. (Georgia Department of Transportation, Oct. 16, 2024; Georgia Department of Transportation, Oct. 3, 2024; Georgia Department of Transportation, date not shown)
  5. Feb. 24, 2026 Attorney General Chris Carr led 19 states in an amicus brief asking the 11th Circuit to reject a Fourth Amendment challenge to police plate readers in Schemel v. City of Marco Island, Florida. The brief cites Georgia examples from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, Statesboro, DeKalb County and Lawrenceville police. (Georgia Attorney General's Office, Feb. 24, 2026; WSB-TV, Feb. 25, 2026)
  6. July 6, 2026 The GBI arrested five former Albany police officers on charges of misusing license plate data and violating their oath of office, after Albany police asked for an investigation following an internal Flock audit. More GBI arrests over plate-reader searches followed that summer, including a Conyers police dispatch supervisor on July 22 and four former Savannah police employees (announced Aug. 21). In each case the local department asked for the investigation after its own audit. (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, July 6, 2026; Georgia Bureau of Investigation, July 23, 2026; Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Aug. 21, 2026; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 9, 2026)
  7. Aug. 25, 2026 State Sen. John Albers (R-Roswell), chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, said a task force formed by the Georgia Sheriffs' Association and the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police was reviewing misuse cases and agency policies with Flock Safety and would report before the 2027 session. He did not commit to legislation. The review covers only cameras run by law enforcement. (Atlanta News First (via WTOC), Aug. 25, 2026)

State agencies

Georgia State Patrol (Department of Public Safety)

Status
Program documented, current use unconfirmed
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
65 mobile readers in 2018 (WSB-TV); no current count found.
  1. 2018 WSB-TV reported that the State Patrol had 65 mobile plate readers statewide and scanned 42,416,383 plates in 2017, plus 274,617 on May 1-2, 2018. (WSB-TV / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2018)
  2. July 1, 2018 DPS policy 6.09 set the rules for the agency's plate readers: law enforcement use only, a 30-month purge, logged sharing with other agencies under a written agreement, and rules for SRTA toll-lane readers. (Georgia Department of Public Safety, July 1, 2018)
  3. Oct. 16, 2024 Under GDOT's plate-reader guidance, local requests to put readers on state rights of way go through DPS first. The DPS LPR coordinator is responsible for making sure data from permitted readers is available to the wider law enforcement community. (Georgia Department of Transportation, Oct. 16, 2024)
Conflicts and open questions
  • No current State Patrol plate-reader contract, vendor or count was found. Status is unconfirmed because the only documented use of its own readers dates to 2018. Open Records request needed for DPS LPR inventory, contracts and HIDTA agreement.

From agency records.

State Road and Tollway Authority

Status
Using license-plate readers
Vendors
Vendor not named in source
Cameras
Count not documented
No count found.
  1. July 1, 2018 DPS policy says SRTA owns plate readers used for HOT-lane enforcement under an MoU with DPS. Troopers using SRTA readers must use SRTA software, and SRTA stores that data. (Georgia Department of Public Safety, July 1, 2018)
  2. June 8, 2026 Clayton County police's plate-reader SOP says SRTA keeps its own toll-related plate-reader data through Peach Pass. (Clayton County Police Department (PowerDMS), June 8, 2026)
Conflicts and open questions
  • Toll-enforcement readers. The state law exempts data tied to a toll violation from the 30-month destruction rule.

From agency records.