Banks County resists release of Flock audit records as scrutiny grows

HOMER, Ga. – Five nearby Northeast Georgia sheriff’s offices have opened their Flock Safety records to public scrutiny, even when those records exposed uncomfortable findings, policy violations and alleged criminal misconduct.

Banks County is taking a different approach.

The Banks County Sheriff’s Office is refusing to release records showing how its employees use and audit the controversial license plate tracking system, maintaining that the information is exempt from Georgia’s Open Records Act because it was captured by or derived from Flock.

The refusal comes as an independent public database reviewed by Now Georgia raises questions that the sheriff’s own records could help answer.

Data available through the “Have I Been Flocked?” platform shows nearly 160,000 searches associated with the Banks County Sheriff’s Office, including more than 155,000 with no case number listed.

One user — whose name is truncated in the available data — is associated with more than 39,000 tag searches across 406 days of activity.

The platform also identifies 25 flagged license plates associated with Banks County data.

Those numbers do not establish misuse. A search without a case number is not, by itself, evidence that an officer acted improperly, and raw search totals can be affected by how Flock records searches and network activity.

But they are precisely the type of numbers an agency audit can put into context.

Banks County has so far declined to provide that context.

‘We maintain our position’

Now Georgia has requested existing Flock audit, user-access, search, and accountability records — not photographs of motorists, GPS coordinates, or unredacted license plate information.

Banks County initially cited O.C.G.A. § 35-1-22, which exempts certain “captured license plate data” from public disclosure, and said the requested records were not maintained by the Sheriff’s Office and that it therefore had no responsive records.

Now Georgia challenged that response in a detailed letter, arguing that administrative audit records showing who used the system, how often it was searched, and whether searches were flagged are different from the underlying photographs, plate numbers, and vehicle-location data protected by state law.

The response also questioned why protected fields could not simply be redacted while nonexempt portions of an audit were released — the same general process law enforcement agencies routinely use when public records contain confidential information.

Banks County did not change course.

“We have consulted with legal counsel, and we maintain our position at this time,” Records Custodian Stephanie Rhodes wrote Wednesday.

Rhodes said the records were not subject to disclosure because the information sought was “captured by or derived from Flock.”

Five other counties released records

That position contrasts sharply with how other Northeast Georgia sheriff’s offices have responded. Rabun, White, Habersham, Hall and Stephens counties have all provided substantially similar Flock usage or audit records in response to Now Georgia’s requests. Stephens County initially raised legal concerns before ultimately providing records.

Those releases did not require agencies to publish motorists’ private movements.

Instead, the records let the public examine how officers used a taxpayer-funded surveillance system and whether agencies checked for abuse.

Those audits have already demonstrated their value.

In Habersham County, internal reviews contributed to the arrests of former Deputy Christian Brewer and former investigator Johnathan Thomas on allegations that they improperly accessed Flock information for personal purposes.

Hall County provides an even broader example. Now Georgia filed its Flock records request there Aug. 10. Hall initially reported “technical difficulties” retrieving records before ultimately producing data showing that 85 of 758 reviewed searches had been flagged for additional scrutiny.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office later described its review as self-initiated, but the scrutiny became public only after Now Georgia began seeking the records.

What followed was significant: Hall County ultimately said seven employees had accessed Flock for reasons unrelated to law enforcement. Three were fired and four resigned while under investigation. The cases were referred for possible criminal charges and professional certification review.

Yet Hall County still released its audit records.

Questions reach Congress

Banks County’s refusal comes as questions about Flock have moved far beyond Northeast Georgia.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism held a hearing titled “Always Watching: Flock’s Nationwide AI Surveillance Network.” Flock CEO Garrett Langley and executives from three other surveillance companies were invited but did not appear.

“If you haven’t heard of Flock, Flock has probably heard of you,” Subcommittee Chairman Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said as he opened the hearing.

The concern crossed party lines.

“We have got to find a way to balance, in America, privacy and security,” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, said, calling for congressional leadership and greater oversight.

Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Ross Teeple offered another perspective: Flock and other automated license plate readers can help police locate stolen vehicles, missing people and dangerous suspects, but their power requires safeguards.

“I will never allow technology to supersede our rights,” Teeple testified.

That debate makes agency audits increasingly important.

“Have I Been Flocked?” describes itself as independent from Flock Safety and government agencies, and its database lists the Banks County Sheriff’s Office among thousands of agencies for which records have been collected.

Its numbers cannot answer whether Banks County’s nearly 160,000 recorded searches were legitimate, whether the 39,000 searches attributed to one truncated user were expected, or why more than 155,000 entries lack a case number.

The Sheriff’s Office’s own records could provide those answers.

For now, Banks County is not releasing them.

Now Georgia has submitted an official Open Records complaint to Sheriff Carlton Speed.  There has been no response as of this publication.