Metro Atlanta Residents Push Again In opposition to Mass Surveillance

[ad_1] by Jeroslyn JoVonn April 27, 2026

Metro Atlanta residents are talking out towards the rising mass surveillance all through town.

Residents throughout metro Atlanta are elevating issues about increasing mass surveillance, warning that the rising program is leaving communities uneasy.

On April 13, the Dunwoody Metropolis Council permitted a contract with Atlanta-based surveillance tech firm Flock Security. In the meantime, in DeKalb County, the increasing community tied to the Atlanta Public Security Coaching Middle is fueling issues amongst residents who say the elevated surveillance makes them really feel watched slightly than protected, Capital B Information studies.

It “actually seems like an invasion of privateness,” mentioned DeKalb resident Brian Web page.

Web page’s issues concerning the Atlanta Public Security Coaching Middle—typically known as “Cop Metropolis”—mirror a broader situation. Constructed on 85 acres of one in all Atlanta’s final city forests, the location is now a part of a large surveillance community of greater than 60,000 cameras linked to regulation enforcement throughout the metro space.

For a lot of Black residents, the mission changed an important inexperienced house with a closely monitored facility, that raised issues about environmental impacts, public well being, and elevated digital surveillance of their communities.

In the meantime, in Dunwoody, Jason Hunyar and his pregnant spouse have been outspoken at metropolis council conferences, elevating issues about Flock Security. Regardless of resident pushback, officers permitted the contract. In an announcement, a Flock spokesperson disputed Hunyar’s claims, saying Dunwoody served as an illustration companion and had approved choose workers to check new merchandise and options.

“It’s baffling to me. Lower than per week after we discover out that Flock workers are watching youngsters at a pool, they resolve to proceed to do enterprise,” mentioned Hunyar, who was outraged after studying Flock executives had been logged into cameras at Dunwoody’s Marcus Jewish Group Middle.

Coaching on the Atlanta Public Security Coaching Middle options mock metropolis blocks geared up with cameras, license-plate readers, and real-time monitoring programs, permitting officers to observe AI-driven monitoring and crowd management. A 2025 evaluation discovered Atlanta has roughly 124 cameras per 1,000 residents—among the many highest charges globally—with programs able to flagging “suspicious” exercise even and not using a reported crime.

Civil liberties advocates warn these ways are already getting used domestically and will unfold to departments nationwide. A Harvard College research throughout 10 cities discovered surveillance cameras are most concentrated in gentrifying neighborhoods, rising as white residents transfer in, even after accounting for crime and earnings.

Atlanta ranks among the many U.S. cities with essentially the most Black neighborhoods gentrified since 1980. As property values rise, policing typically intensifies; one evaluation discovered arrests enhance alongside even modest positive aspects in dwelling values. Collectively, the info counsel redevelopment in Black communities is regularly paired with expanded surveillance and enforcement.

All of the whereas, issues about Flock Security are spreading throughout metro Atlanta, as its instruments—from license plate readers to surveillance cameras and gunshot detection—broaden nationwide. In Marietta, a Cobb County assembly drew pushback from a product supervisor over native contracts with the corporate. At Emory College, a coalition of scholars, college, and employees submitted a petition with over 1,000 signatures calling to take away license plate readers, finish the varsity’s contract, and launch a clear evaluate of campus surveillance.

As Georgia-based surveillance corporations broaden nationwide and cities push again over ties to immigration enforcement and protest policing, the talk in Atlanta is taking over nationwide significance. Residents in Atlanta are becoming a member of a rising nationwide motion pushing again on surveillance expertise—a decentralized, cross-partisan effort that has led to at the very least 50 canceled or rejected contracts, or the removing of Flock cameras, over the previous yr, based on DeFlock.

Hunyar mentioned his issues heart on “safety, auditability, and transparency,” arguing that these requirements are important in any system of mass surveillance. For Atlanta group organizer Kamau Franklin, the event is unwelcome however unsurprising, saying it aligns with the broader trajectory of gentrification in Atlanta.

“The surveillance system, the environmental points, and the gentrification of Atlanta go hand in hand,” Franklin mentioned. “The main focus and cash poured into specialised police models and cameras feels far outstripped by something invested in housing, inexperienced house, or jobs.”