Cobb County hosts first Flock Safety town hall amid growing concerns over license plate readers

As debate over Flock cameras continues, Cobb County police hosted the first in a series of Flock Safety town halls Thursday night.

Cobb County resident Astrid Paris said she attended the meeting to learn more about the company's automated license plate readers.

"You know, you can't believe everything that you see on Reddit or social media, and I just really wanted to understand from the actual people who are using it what the concerns are, how they're using it and just hear what other concerns people had," Paris said.

Heading into the meeting, Paris was undecided about Flock.

"This technology has been misused and abused, so that always concerns me," Paris said. "But again, I know that it can obviously be helpful, too, to figure out, 'OK, where was this person last?' I think, honestly, I'm probably a little bit more pro-Flock at this point, which is also not something I expected to leave this meeting with."

Cobb County Police Chief Dan Ferrell said the department has hosted technology town halls in the past. Recent concerns about the use of Flock cameras, however, convinced police to resume the community discussions.

"Let's sit down, let them speak and see what their concerns actually are and see what kind of understanding we can come to," Ferrell said.

During Thursday's meeting, Ferrell discussed the department's most common automated license plate reader searches, how officers use the technology and the safeguards in place.

"I will tell you, my belief is that it is incumbent upon law enforcement to try to balance the constitutional protections of people and safety," Ferrell said. "And that's a balancing act that we do everywhere."

Jalen Johnson, a Flock representative, said the company also supports additional safeguards.

"But to give everybody in this room an answer: Yes, we at Flock believe in guardrails," Johnson said. "We believe in legislation protecting this equipment, this technology and having cybersecurity tests. We believe in all of that. We have nothing to hide."

The next Cobb County Flock town hall will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.