How Newnan police plan to stop license plate camera abuse

Newnan limits Flock camera access to police supervisors

Police agencies across North Georgia face growing pressure to explain their use of Flock license plate reading cameras and detail the safeguards protecting driver data.  

NEWNAN, Ga. - Newnan police officials explained to the city council that the department has restricted its Flock license plate reader system to supervisors to prevent officer misuse. 

What we know:

Newnan Police Chief Brent Blankenship and Lt. Kevin Black presented their department's Flock camera policies to the city council following a request from the mayor. 

The department operates five Flock cameras, which is relatively few compared to other area agencies.

While other departments allow street officers to search vehicle tag data, Newnan limits access strictly to sergeants and lieutenants. Officers must request a tag search through a supervisor. 

Blankenship noted that departments across North Georgia face scrutiny over officers who allegedly misused Flock data for personal reasons, leading to firings and prosecutions.

To curb potential abuse, Newnan police supervisors run weekly audits of all internal searches, and the Flock company's built-in audit function flags repeated searches for the same vehicle tag. 

The system retains data for 30 days.

The department uses its five cameras to get real-time alerts on stolen cars, Mattie's Calls, Amber Alerts and vehicles linked to violent crimes, homicides and robberies.

What we don't know:

Officials did not state whether any police personnel had previously attempted unauthorized searches before the supervisor-only policy was established.

 A councilman asked if the Flock system had ever been hacked, but police said they do not know of any situation where their specific data had an issue.