Dunwoody resident Danny Ross is calling on the mayor and City Council to set clear rules for the city's Flock Safety camera system.

Ross published a letter in Appen Media on Sunday, Aug. 30, citing a Wall Street Journal report that a Dunwoody resident obtained audit logs showing Flock employees accessed the city's cameras more than 1,000 times, including a camera at a park. Flock CEO Garrett Langley told the Journal that the Dunwoody Police Department had given the company permission to use its cameras for sales demonstrations and that Flock has since stopped.

Ross also pointed to earlier reports raising concerns about Flock employee access to cameras at the Marcus Jewish Community Center (MJCCA), including cameras associated with areas used by children and families.

"Are we creating a surveillance system without ever consciously deciding that we want one?" Ross wrote.

He argued that the city's elected officials, not the technology company, must decide how the system operates. Ross called for rules governing access, retention, sharing, auditing and expansion of the surveillance network. He drew a distinction between a license plate reader photographing a car on a public street and a live camera watching a park, playground or children's facility.

Ross said he supports the Dunwoody Police Department and the legitimate law enforcement uses of Flock's technology. But he wrote that the city can have both public safety and personal privacy.

The letter is the latest entry in a months-long public debate over Dunwoody's use of Flock Safety cameras. In an Aug. 11 letter to the editor, Mayor Lynn Deutsch said she met with Flock CEO Langley on April 9 at Perc Coffee outside Dunwoody. She said Flock agreed to stop using Dunwoody cameras for commercial sales demonstrations, the system was protected by multifactor authentication, and restrictions on outside agency access were strengthened.

Deutsch wrote in August that her responsibility is to protect both public safety and the privacy of residents.

Ross's letter also cited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who said at an Aug. 26 press conference at Florida International University in Miami that automated license plate readers have gotten "out of control." DeSantis said he asked for an overview of how Florida agencies use the technology and is reviewing New Hampshire's approach as a possible model. He announced no specific legislation or timetable.

The concerns extend beyond Dunwoody. Fox 5 Atlanta reported that three Coweta County Sheriff's Office employees resigned in August after an internal audit flagged their Flock use. The sheriff's office asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into the matter. Georgia is among at least eight states that make unauthorized use of license plate reader data a criminal offense.

Flock Safety announced platform-wide changes on Aug. 13, according to an AP report. The company said it would make its audit tool mandatory for all law enforcement customers, shorten the standard data retention window from 30 days to seven and require officers to enter a case-management code before running a search.

No response from the Dunwoody City Council or the mayor's office to Ross's letter has been made public. No council agenda item on Flock surveillance governance has been confirmed for September.