Summary
Atlanta Community Press Collective obtained APD’s Flock Safety audit via open records request. Despite APD’s public stance as a “Welcoming City” and its claim it has not assisted federal immigration enforcement, the audit shows 15 immigration-related Flock searches in March 2025 using terms “locate alien” and “ERO assist” (ICE Enforcement Removal Operations). The searches tie local surveillance infrastructure to federal immigration enforcement via the interconnected Flock network.
Key Points
- 15 immigration-related searches March 20–24, 2025 by APD Investigator David Stribling (12x “locate alien”) and ATF Intelligence Specialist Keya Chavies (3x “ERO assist”).
- APD’s Flock network has been searched by 4,500+ agencies running 10.6M+ queries since Jan 1, 2025; APD itself ran 323,292 searches.
- External agencies searched APD’s network 3,254 times using US Border Patrol credentials and 3,383 times with immigration-related keywords.
- Atlanta joined the Welcoming Cities initiative (2013), ended ICE detention contract (2018 under Bottoms), funded migrant defense (Feb/June 2025) — policy explicitly at odds with APD’s Flock usage.
- Flock announced Aug 25, 2025 that it ended direct CBP/HSI pilot programs; the last direct CBP hit on Atlanta’s network was Aug 24. But third-party agencies (Pierce County, GA Sheriff’s Dept) continued running “Border Patrol Assist” searches as late as Sept 15.
- Illinois Secretary of State audit found CBP had direct access to Illinois networks in violation of state law.
Newsletter Angles
- Surveillance infrastructure as federalism-evasion tool: sanctuary-city policies are meaningless when the local camera network is cross-queried by 4,500 other agencies. Jurisdictional lines don’t exist in the Flock back-end.
- The “Flock exited CBP pilot” narrative papered over continued access via proxy agencies. This is a reproducible pattern — Flock’s compliance announcements are PR, the plumbing still routes.
- Atlanta is the corporate home of Flock Safety. A hometown story about a hometown surveillance company.
Entities Mentioned
- Flock Safety — Atlanta-based ALPR vendor
- Atlanta Police Department
- ICE / Enforcement Removal Operations
- Customs and Border Protection
- Homeland Security Investigations
- Atlanta Community Press Collective
- David Stribling — APD investigator, FBI task force
- Keya Chavies — ATF Intelligence Specialist
- Keisha Lance Bottoms — former Atlanta mayor, ended ICE detention contract
- Mike Johnston — Denver mayor who signed sub-threshold Flock contract unilaterally
- Pierce County Sheriff’s Department (GA)
- Sandy Springs Police Department
Concepts Mentioned
- Automated License Plate Recognition / ALPR
- Surveillance infrastructure
- Welcoming Cities / sanctuary policies
- Vehicle fingerprinting
- Interconnected surveillance networks
Quotes
APD spokesperson: APD has “not assisted any federal law enforcement agencies with immigration enforcement activities this year.”
Notes
Strong primary sourcing — records obtained via Georgia Open Records Act. Correction noted at top re: initial query language. Written for local audience but has national implications. Aligns with 404 Media’s June 2025 investigation.