What we want

• The immediate cancelation of Avondales Estates’ contract with Flock
• A commitment to not sign any future contract with Flock or their competitors (ie Axon, Motorola, etc.) for similar surveillance technology.

Flock is an AI surveillance company that has quietly installed over 137,000 cameras across the country. They record the movements of anyone who crosses in front of them to build a searchable database of everyone, regardless of whether they have been accused of a crime. This is a warrantless mass surveillance system, giving the government and unaccountable private companies unprecedented abilities to track your movements. The products are presented as Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs) but they are capable of much more. They use AI to read plates but also identify the make, model, and color of a vehicle as well as identify it through visual details such as bumper stickers or scratches. Their competitors such as Axon do the same. Avondale Estates currently has a contract with Flock for 10 such ALPR cameras. 

The system is a nationwide network that allows anyone else with a flock contract to search the database, leading to massive security concerns. There are over 50 cases nationwide of this system being misused by rogue law enforcement agents leading to arrests, suspension, or firings, including 8 DeKalb county officers being suspended in August, 2026. Much of the reported abuse is use of the system to stalk women and former romantic partners. Open records requests in Dunwoody revealed 1,062 unauthorized viewings of Dunwoody's network by Flock employees including a camera inside a children's gymnastics studio and another in the middle of Brook Run Park Playground whose historical data was accessed by Flock's VP. Flock responded by scrubbing their records.

Avondale has two-way data sharing agreements with approximately 300 other jurisdictions. While our department has put in safeguards restricting their own ability to misuse the system, we have no control as to how other agencies that also have access to this data use it. 

Cities all over the country are canceling their Flock contracts due to these concerns. Asheville, NC recently cancelled theirs citing privacy, data sharing, and oversight concerns. Texas Governor Greg Abbot just blocked all funding for Flock statewide. As of August 2026 214 cities and counties have cancelled their Flock contracts and the trend is accelerating. 90 of those cancellations within the month of August 2026 alone. 

Our data is entrusted to a private company with no oversight as to how that data is stored. As per their contract, Flock has full rights to use that data however they like, including sharing it with 3rd parties and using it to train their AI. They have also been caught many times lying to city councils, police departments, and the public about the capabilities and use of their camera, so any assurances from the company don’t count for much.

The only way to maintain the safety of our data is to not collect it in the first place. This is why civil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are opposing these cameras on constitutional grounds and cities across the country are canceling their contracts.