Should be no paywall. Creating fake urgency to push this through is just sickening.
EDIT for Article Text:
MARIETTA — As public concern over Flock Safety cameras mounts, an agenda item to purchase 15 more cameras for the Cobb County Police Department drew further scrutiny during this week’s Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting.
Deputy Chief Stephen Kucynda came before the commission this week to request modifications to the department’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) Public Safety and Community Violence Reduction grant award from Gov. Brian Kemp’s Office of Planning and Budget.
The board authorized acceptance of the $1.15 million award in July 2023. Since then, the funding has been used to purchase equipment, technology and software to improve Cobb Police’s response to criminal events and to enhance criminal investigations and overall community safety, per the county.
With a remaining $230,608 in grant funds, the department requested to formally change the scope of the grant to allow the purchase of additional equipment and hardware, as well as a change in vendor for one of the originally approved purchase items.
The agenda item did not clarify what that equipment was — other than “technology-based systems designed to reduce and prevent acts of violent crime” — or who the vendor was, which drew criticism from attendees at Tuesday’s meeting.
Kucynda later shared that the department planned to spend $150,000 on 15 automated license place readers through Flock, with the remainder going toward computer upgrades and a software program for analysts in the real-time crime center to “go through social media.” The last two items would not be through Flock, Kucynda said. He said several vendors had been discussed, but nothing had been picked at that point.
Matt Stigall, Chair Lisa Cupid’s appointee to the Cobb County Transit Advisory Board, criticized the lack of detail, comparing it to the high level of detail provided on previously discussed transit projects.
“(The public safety agenda item) mentions new technologies and new assets without the level of detail, and even changing of vendors without the level of detail as far as (who) those vendors are,” he said. “I do think that there’s a level of transparency that’s not consistent between different topics.”
Fellow public commenter Joel Becker accused the county of trying to authorize the purchase “under the radar,” days before the scheduled town halls over Flock cameras.
“You say the word ‘new technology.’ We all know what that means and I don’t like them,” he said. “But you know what I like even less? How little you’ve tried to engage with the community.”
Earlier this month, the county announced Police Chief James “Dan” Ferrell would be hosting four community town halls in response to the recent concerns surrounding Flock’s automated license plate reader technology.
The first was scheduled for Thursday night at the Milford Recreation Center.
“In response to some of the comments (the board) heard, not only (in Tuesday’s) meeting but also online,” Cupid pulled the item — and two resolutions related to the county’s microtransit pilot program — from consent for further discussion.
At the chair’s request, Kucynda shared more details on the requested grant adjustment. He said the Flock cameras were originally scheduled for purchase during the MLB All-Star Game in July 2025, but “due to permitting issues with the (Department of Transportation)” were held.
The grant is separate from the county’s $147 million allocation of ARPA funding and actually consists of state ARPA dollars allocated to Cobb. The state deadline to expend the funding is Oct. 31, compared to the county’s internal deadline of Dec. 31.
Kucynda said holding the item until next month, as Cupid had suggested, would put the department “under a time crunch.”
County Attorney Debbie Blair added the ARPA funds must either be spent by the deadline or returned.
“So if we were to delay it, it could be that we would lose those monies,” she warned.
Commissioner Keli Gambrill noted one of the main concerns in the crowd was the cameras “being used in ways that it was not designed and intended to be used.”
The cameras photograph passing vehicles and license plates and log vehicle information into a searchable database. Law enforcement officers from across the state have already been arrested for allegedly misusing the cameras, with accusations ranging from officers using them to stalk ex-partners to officers tracking people they knew personally.
State Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, announced earlier this week that he had convened a task force with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association — professional organizations for law enforcement leaders from around the state — to come up with ways to curb misuse.
Kucynda assured commissioners Cobb Police had policies in place to ensure the information was not misused, including a monthly audit that is published online for the public to view.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell added Police Chief James “Dan” Ferrell had prepared a response showing the audit restricted use to supervisors, chiefs and deputy chiefs — something that would be explained during the upcoming town halls.
“There are measures in place to prevent the abuse,” Birrell said. “And there has been abuse in other jurisdictions, even as close as the next county, and I think that’s what everybody’s been alarmed about and rightfully so, but I think with the things in place that y’all have done in the police department to prevent that happening here, we’ve got a good handle on it with our police.”
She believed the public would come to a similar conclusion after attending the town halls.
Birrell expressed her support for the agenda item, stating she did not want to see the county miss the deadline and be unable to use the already allocated funds.
Cupid agreed with Birrell that Flock cameras have been in place in Cobb for some time now, but also recognized the emerging concerns.
“There’s no denying here in Cobb County that we have seen correlation of crime decreases across the county, even in some of our more challenged areas with this technology, but we also want to be responsible stewards as we use it,” she said. “We had a number of questions before we had this technology first installed here in the county and certainly are getting a lot more questions and I can understand the desire to see us hold this (item).”
Still, Cupid said she was inclined to support the grant adjustment, considering it was time-sensitive and had already moved forward once before facing delays with a third party.
“I’m also inclined for us to have robust discussion about why we are utilizing this technology,” she said. “Again, I can just say there’s correlation with significant improvement in crime.”
Looking back at her time as a commissioner in south Cobb, Cupid noted seeing the county become more “efficient in addressing crime and being able to go after individual suspects without making the whole community a suspect.”
“And that’s been done with video feed,” she said. “So there’s just a lot of balancing as we determine to move this forward as there have been some monumental improvements for how communities have been targeted in policing.”
The next town halls over Flock cameras will be held from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at:
♦ Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center on Monday, Aug. 31;
♦ West Cobb Senior Center on Tuesday, Sept. 1;
♦ North Cobb Senior Center on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
