Flock representatives get questions about data sharing, security at South Fulton town hall

A Flock Safety representative faced questions about privacy and immigration enforcement Thursday night. The discussion took place at a South Fulton town hall about the company's license plate cameras.

South Fulton Mayor Carmalitha Gumbs hosted the forum at the Southwest Arts Center. Dr. Cedric Alexander, the city's interim director of public safety, moderated the panel. The panel also included Georgia State Sen. Jaha Howard of District 35, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the deputy executive director of the ACLU.

Flock cameras read license plates of passing cars, according to Flock Safety. Alexander said his officers use the data to solve crimes, find missing people, and locate stolen cars and wanted suspects.

CBS News Atlanta asked the Flock representative whether Flock data in Georgia has ever been shared with federal immigration agents.

"I'm not sure I can answer that question. I'm not privy to local law enforcement agencies' data. But what I will tell you is that every agency chooses who they share it with," said Jalen Johnson, the company's government relations manager.

After the interview, Johnson followed up by saying that Flock cannot see who local agencies share their data with and that federal sharing is never turned on automatically. A federal agency must request the data and the local agency must choose to share it.

"And look, we made that that way because we've learned from previous mistakes," said Johnson.

Johnson also said Flock does not have a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He said Flock recently cut its data retention from 30 days to seven and that every law enforcement customer will have mandatory proactive auditing by the end of the year.

Johnson said Flock supports reasonable guardrails. When CBS News Atlanta asked for an example of an unreasonable guardrail, he did not give one, but said Flock is still having those conversations with lawmakers and community members.

Alexander said his department audits its Flock searches, which led to the discovery of a few cases of misuse.

He did not believe any South Fulton officers had been terminated due to possible misuse of the system, but said there may have been some suspensions.

Gumbs said she has no concerns about her police department at this time. She said she wants less access to the data and more accountability.

"South Fulton is not a dangerous city by far," said Gumbs.

Jack Mallines, who has lived in South Fulton since 2003, said he had seen the cameras around town but did not know what they were. He said he wants to make sure no one abuses the technology.

Gumbs said the forum went so well that the city may hold a part two furthering the discussion.