Summary
Atlanta Community Press Collective investigation, sourced via Georgia Open Records Act audit, documenting that Atlanta PD users conducted 15 immigration-related searches of the Flock Safety camera network (“locate alien,” “ERO assist”) between March 20–24, 2025 — directly contradicting the department’s public claim that it has not assisted federal immigration enforcement. The audit also reveals the staggering scale of the Flock network: 4,500 agencies, 10.6 million searches in 2025 alone hitting Atlanta’s cameras, including 3,254 by US Border Patrol and 3,383 with immigration keywords from external agencies.
Key Points
- APD Investigator David Stribling conducted 12 “locate alien” searches; APD claims he was on an FBI task force on transnational fraud (since retired).
- Keya Chavies, who LinkedIn identifies as an ATF Intelligence Specialist, conducted 3 “ERO assist” searches via APD credentials; Chavies does not work for APD.
- APD spokesperson denied any 2025 immigration enforcement assistance — directly contradicted by the audit they themselves provided.
- Network scale: 4,500 agencies; 10.6M searches hitting APD’s cameras in 2025; APD itself ran 323,292 searches.
- Atlanta’s “Welcoming City” policy (2013) and SAFE Cities Network membership (2017) are formally pro-immigrant; ICE detention contract ended by Mayor Bottoms 2018; $4M migrant case management funding 2025; $156K migrant deportation defense grant June 2025. Police practice diverges sharply from city policy.
- Sandy Springs PD also conducted ERO searches; Appen Media broke that story in June 2025.
- 8+ cities have cancelled or paused Flock contracts in 2025 (NBC News).
- Austin City Council declined to renew Flock contract over privacy (June 2025).
- Denver City Council unanimously rejected extension; Mayor Mike Johnston unilaterally signed a smaller contract under the cost threshold to bypass council approval.
- Illinois Secretary of State audit found federal agencies (CBP) had direct access to Illinois networks in violation of state law.
- Aug 25, 2025: Flock announced ending “limited pilots” with CBP and HSI. Last CBP search hitting Atlanta network was Aug 24 — but Pierce County (GA) Sheriff ran 4 “Border Patrol Assist” searches Sept 15, providing the workaround.
Newsletter Angles
- Power / Infrastructure: Flock is the textbook chokepoint-control story for the surveillance era — privately operated, networked across 4,500 agencies, no federal warrant required, used to circumvent local sanctuary policies. The “ending CBP pilots” announcement is a fig leaf — neighboring sheriffs ran the same queries weeks later.
- Local sanctuary policies are functionally meaningless when a city’s own cameras are queryable nationwide. Atlanta’s “Welcoming City” status is contradicted by its own data export.
- Connect to Operation Metro Surge / Killing of Renée Good: Same architecture — federal immigration enforcement uses local infrastructure (LPRs in Atlanta, surge personnel in Minneapolis) to do an end-run around state and local political accountability.
- Editorial hook: “Atlanta says it’s a sanctuary city. Its cameras say otherwise.”
Entities Mentioned
- Atlanta Police Department — primary subject
- Flock Safety — surveillance vendor; central infrastructure
- Atlanta Community Press Collective — investigative outlet
- US Customs and Border Protection — major external user
- ICE / Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) — search-keyword origin
- Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives — Chavies’s employer
- Sandy Springs Police Department — also documented running ERO queries
- Pierce County Sheriff’s Department (GA) — post-pilot CBP workaround
- Austin City Council — Flock cancellation
- Denver City Council / Mike Johnston — Flock approval workaround
- Illinois Secretary of State — Flock audit revealing illegal CBP access
- Vera Institute of Justice — SAFE Cities Network co-founder
- Keisha Lance Bottoms — former Atlanta mayor; ended ICE contract 2018
Concepts Mentioned
- Flock Safety Surveillance Network — the connected ALPR system
- Sanctuary City Policy — formal policy vs operational practice
- Welcoming City Initiative — Atlanta’s 2013 commitment
- Open Records as Accountability Tool — how this story exists
- Surveillance Infrastructure — the broader category (canonical; formerly linked here as “Police Surveillance Infrastructure”)
Quotes
“had not assisted any federal law enforcement agencies with immigration enforcement activities this year.” — APD spokesperson (contradicted by audit)
“ERO assist” — search reason logged 3 times by Keya Chavies (ATF) using APD credentials, March 2025
Notes
ACPC is a non-profit local journalism collective with a clear pro-accountability editorial stance. The story is sourced entirely on the official audit APD itself provided under open records request — every numerical claim is auditable. The correction at the top (re: “track alien” being an incorrect search term) shows responsible methodology.
This is a strong primary source for the Flock Safety entity page and connects to broader surveillance-infrastructure pattern across the wiki: ICE/CBP, state-AG weaponization, and the “private vendor as policy-laundering vehicle” pattern.