03/09/2026
To the Athens community,
I have watched the conversation around Flock cameras grow increasingly personal over the last few days, including criticism that I somehow “platformed” someone who abused the technology or that my continued belief in the usefulness of ALPRs means I am ignoring what happened. That is frustrating, because I have said from the beginning that technology is only as good as the safeguards, policies, and people governing its use.
What happened in Athens proved exactly why those safeguards matter. I am grateful to Chief Saulters for putting stronger policies in place. I also wish those protections had existed from the beginning. We should be able to acknowledge both things at the same time. Two things can be true at once, though our current political and social climate tries to convince us otherwise.
I also believe Georgia should go further. There should be stronger state laws governing the misuse of ALPR systems and other law enforcement technology, with meaningful penalties when someone abuses their access. If we are going to give people access to powerful tools, there must be serious consequences when that trust is violated. I am working on this.
What I continue to struggle with is how quickly the technology itself has become the villain while the underlying problems receive far less attention. Violence against women is real. Stalking is real. Domestic violence is real. Crime is real. Those are the things that actually hurt people.
ALPRs take photographs of license plates traveling on public roads. Meanwhile, cameras in stores, neighborhoods, businesses, traffic systems and countless other places capture far more information about us every day, often including our faces, without generating anywhere near the same outrage.
That does not mean ALPRs should operate without limits. They should have strict access controls, auditing, clear policies, accountability for misuse and public oversight. I support all of those things. I also support stronger laws to make sure misuse carries real consequences.
The lesson I take from what happened is not that technology itself is inherently bad. The lesson is that human beings can abuse powerful tools, and our laws and policies have to be strong enough to prevent that abuse, detect it quickly and punish it when it happens.
Learning new information, being angry when trust is violated, supporting stronger safeguards and still believing a tool can serve a legitimate public safety purpose is not hypocrisy. It is what responsible public conversation should look like.
Regardless of where you fall on this debate, I know in my heart of hearts we all want the same thing: for Athens to be a place we can all live, work, and thrive while feeling safe.
With Gratitude for the conversations,
Cameron Jay
PS: thanks to everyone on all sides who has engaged with me on this. Iron sharpens iron. 💜
