Going to Monday’s Flock town hall? Here’s what’s in the county record.
Cobb County holds its first Flock Safety town hall Monday, August 31, with two more dates already on the calendar after that. Before that conversation starts, here’s what the Board of Commissioners has actually put on paper about license plate readers since 2021, item by item, straight from the agendas and minutes.
🔦 Three actions, three years apart
- September 14, 2021 (28): a five-year service agreement with Flock Group, Inc. for a Real-Time Crime Center, not to exceed $300,000. It moved through that day’s Consent Agenda and was adopted 5-0.
- January 24, 2023 (43): a contract with Flock Safety for 16 solar-powered ALPR cameras across six county parks, funded under the 2016 and 2022 PARKS SPLOST programs, not to exceed $277,600. Adopted 5-0.
- August 13, 2024 (25): a Second Amendment to that 2021 agreement, adding four Flock Falcon systems and one Flock Condor system for $15,600. It also ran through Consent and was adopted 5-0.
Three separate votes, same vendor, three different funding sources.
💵 The total, and what it doesn’t include
Item 28 costs $300,000, item 43 costs $277,600, and item 25 costs $15,600. None of those figures comes close to Gwinnett County’s confirmed Flock spending. We published that breakdown here: ourdocket.org/gwinnett.
Those three base contracts don’t cover everything, though. They leave out two recurring costs already written into the county’s own paperwork. The 2023 parks contract adds a $2,500-per-camera annual fee starting in year six, across all 16 cameras, once it kicks in around 2028. The 2024 equipment amendment references its own recurring ask too: about $15,000 a year starting in the county’s 2025 fiscal year. Neither number is folded into those base amounts; both are real costs the county’s own paperwork already anticipates.
📋 One thread we can’t close yet
The August 2024 memo also references a February 13, 2024 Board action funding “equipment to enhance safety and security capabilities in District 2” out of that district’s contingency budget. That action’s own agenda hasn’t been checked, so we can’t confirm whether it names Flock at all. It isn’t counted in the three contracts above, and it isn’t being reported as a fourth Flock contract until it’s separately verified.
🗓️ Where and when
Town hall dates on the calendar: Monday, August 31; Tuesday, September 1; and Tuesday, September 15.
❓ Worth asking Monday
- What happens to the per-camera fees once the parks contract’s initial five years run out around 2028, and is that cost in a current budget projection?
- Who can access Flock camera data, how long is it kept, and does the county share it with other agencies or jurisdictions?
- What was the February 2024 District 2 funding action, and did it involve Flock equipment?
💰 Where the money’s going
- Flock Group, Inc., Real-Time Crime Center service agreement: $300,000.00 (Item 28, Sept. 14, 2021)
- Flock Safety, Parks ALPR camera contract: $277,600.00 (Item 43, Jan. 24, 2023)
- Flock Group, Inc., equipment amendment, 4 Falcon systems + 1 Condor system: $15,600.00 (Item 25, Aug. 13, 2024)
These three base contracts don’t include two recurring costs already written into the county’s own paperwork: a $2,500-per-camera annual fee across all 16 cameras starting around 2028, and roughly $15,000/year starting in FY2025.
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