South Fulton residents question Flock camera safety

We begin tonight on Fox 5 News at 10. Thanks for joining us. I'm Courtney Brandt. And I'm Russ Spencer. City leaders say they want to explain more about them and hear from the community about their concerns. Fox 5's Denise Dillon is live in South Fulton tonight. Denise, residents had a lot of questions. Yeah, I did talk to a lot of residents tonight and most of them just wanted to know more about the cameras and how they work. Some already had an opinion but wanted to keep an open mind. I just want to get a good understanding of why flock cameras are necessary. I'm not a fan of Flock cameras. I understand how they can be a benefit, so that's why I'm coming here to see, really to hear what the pros and cons are. Questions are swirling about flock cameras, and City of South Fulton residents hoped to get answers at this town hall. I'm a big proponent of flock. Pete Meadows is the flock administrator for his neighborhood and says the cameras have been useful. He's here to find out more about how the city oversees their use. And so that's one of the things I want to hear tonight, what does South Fulton have in place to make sure that police are not using it unauthorized? Our cameras find them in less than 30 minutes. A flock representative explained flock cameras are designed to only take photos of the back of a vehicle. He said last year the cameras helped find more than 10,000 missing people in the U.S. and assisted in more than one million law enforcement investigations. Yet Flock has been getting a lot of flack after dozens of officers in Georgia have been caught misusing the cameras. There are also concerns about privacy. The work that we've been doing when it comes to Flock safety, how do we use these this technology appropriately? State Senator Jaha Howard thinks there needs to be some guardrails in place. He wants legislation that would decrease access and increase accountability. But first, he wants to hear the concerns of the community. I want to make sure we're listening to everybody because we have legislation that we're working on and that legislation needs the input of everyday citizens, especially right here in the city of South Fulton. And Senator Howard said he has spent months talking to law enforcement and residents trying to determine what should be included in proposed legislation. Reporting live, Denise Dillon, Fox 5 News. Yeah, and as you know, we've been reporting that officers who've been misusing it are being caught and fired and in many cases prosecuted. Denise, thanks so much.