I reported last week that three employees at my local Sheriff’s Office in Coweta County, Georgia, were forced to resign when it came to light that they were using the county’s Flock surveillance cameras, which have literally blanketed the area over the last five or six years, for their own personal use in violation of department policy.
Well, that was just the tip of the iceberg in Georgia. Since that article was posted last Friday there have been several more cases of law enforcement officers in the state using Flock’s AI spy cameras not just for official police business but for their own personal mischief.
Check out the August 8 article from the Atlanta CBS affiliate WSB-TV Channel 2, below:
A former Polk County police officer who once worked with a multi-agency drug task force has been charged after investigators said she improperly accessed a license plate reader system for personal reasons.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Friday that former Polk County Police Department Officer Tracey Royston, 51, of Cedartown, is facing four misdemeanor counts of misuse of a license plate reader System.
Channel 2 Action News has previously reported on several officers in metro Atlanta and in the state who have been fired and arrested over misusing the cameras, including most recently in Coweta County, Savannah and Habersham County.
According to the GBI, the investigation began July 31 after the PCPD requested assistance looking into allegations involving the Cedartown Police Department’s Flock Safety System, a network of cameras that captures and stores license plate information.
Investigators said Royston previously served as an agent with the Northwest Georgia Drug Task Force, which is managed by the GBI. Because of that role, she had access to the Cedartown Police Department’s Flock Safety System.
Investigators say Royston accessed the system multiple times between 2024 and 2025 for purposes unrelated to law enforcement, according to the GBI.
Royston was arrested Thursday and booked into the Polk County Jail.
The investigation remains active and ongoing. Once completed, the case will be turned over to the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
Flock misuse: 8 metro Atlanta officers suspended over policy violations
3 former sheriff’s office employees accused of misusing Flock Safety System after audit
6 Georgia officers, staff investigated for misusing Flock system in popular tourist destination
3 more metro Atlanta police officers fired, accused of misusing Flock cameras
10+ officers arrested for misusing surveillance cameras. What tools are watching the watchers?
DA’s office investigator illegally accessed Flock camera system more than 60 times, GBI says
Crime center supervisor accused of misusing Flock data to track domestic partner, charged by GBI
5 ex-Georgia police officers charged in misuse of license plate reader data
Former Georgia sheriff’s office employee accused of stalking people using department Flock account
Sandy Springs police officer terminated after allegedly using city’s Flock cameras for personal gain
That’s quite a list of abuse from just one state. It’s likely that Flock receives more coverage in Georgia because the company is based in Atlanta. Other states are likely just as riddled with abuse from law enforcement but they are able to keep it under the radar.
American citizens are being illegally surveilled while the company is fleecing the taxpayers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. It’s time we hold our city councils and county commissions accountable for these abusive Orwellian systems.
Meanwhile, Flock Safety keeps expanding into new and more invasive ways of tracking and spying on American citizens, making sure we have no way of escaping their watchful eyes.
It was reported that Flock was working on a deal to place its AI-powered spy cameras in Uber and Lyft rideshare vehicles and delivery vehicles, turning them into rolling spy cams everywhere they go.
Cybernews reports:
A leaked document shows that Flock Safety, the company behind the highly controversial network of automatic license plate readers across the US, was planning to convert 350,000 Uber, Lyft, and delivery cars into a sort of mobile extension of its surveillance system.
As of today, Flock only employs smart pole cameras across America. But the company has more ambitious plans.
Despite growing protests, the Lancaster Police Department in the state of New York is planning to start using Flock drone cameras in September, for example. They would fly over designated areas to provide rapid response capabilities.
And according to a leaked Flock presentation obtained by 404 Media, the firm recently pitched an idea to expand its surveillance network by equipping rideshare vehicles with dashcams that can scan license plates along their routes.
According to 404 Media, the pitch, shared with the news website by Jason Hunyar, a Georgia resident who obtained it through a public records request, shows that Flock was actively marketing the idea to prospective customers last year.
It’s unclear whether those hundreds of thousands of rideshare drivers would have known their cars were collecting data from passing vehicles.
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