David Gabriel
David John Stewart was found dead behind his home on Double Bridges Road from blunt force trauma on Feb. 25, 2025.
Two weeks later, multiple law enforcement agencies announced the arrest of suspect Michael Thomas Dusch, an arrest Oglethorpe County Sheriff David Gabriel largely attributes to Flock license plate reader (LPR) cameras.
“The suspect actually drove the victim’s truck to get something to eat, and he showed up on the Flock camera,” Gabriel said. “We were able to track down to what restaurant he went to … and get a facial shot of him at the restaurant using the victim’s credit card.”
After the murder, Dusch appeared on Flock cameras in Texas, and was arrested by the Denton Police Department.
“The Flock cameras (are) what helped us identify the camper that was finally stopped in Texas, so it led to a good, effective arrest,” chief investigator Mike Tyndell said.
Flock cameras are automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems made by Flock Safety. They capture license plates, vehicle characteristics and the timestamps, and use artificial intelligence-powered software to convert this into searchable data.
Now in every state but Alaska, they are used by law enforcement to identify missing people, recover stolen vehicles and investigate serious crimes.
The technology has captured national attention as a number of cases alleging officer misuse have surfaced.
In Georgia, three former Bibb County sheriff’s deputies were arrested on Aug. 10, on charges that they used the cameras to stalk people with whom they had “a personal relationship at the time.”
In response to these cases, Flock Safety has announced new features.
It is requiring all customers to use its “Audit Assistance” tool by the end of 2026, which flags abnormal search behavior, and input a case number for each search, except for “genuine emergencies,” which will be flagged for review. It is also reducing its data retention policy from 30 days to seven days.
While Gabriel said there have been no misuse cases in Oglethorpe County, some residents have voiced their concerns on Facebook.
“I don’t like that it’s a private company … I understand that it’s a useful tool for law enforcement, but we’ve had CCTV for years, and we don’t own this data, we’re renting it from this company,” said Shelton Lillard, an Arnoldsville Road resident. “We don’t even have outright open access to it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has scrutinized updates to Flock’s terms and conditions regarding data use. It notes that the terms include a “perpetual” right for Flock to use customer data to “support and improve” services, and language stating the company “does not own and shall not sell Customer Data” has been removed.
The county has an estimated eight cameras positioned at “choke points,” leasing each one for $2,500 annually.
“A lot of times, one of the first things we do is look at Flock and see who’s in the area,” Gabriel said. “It could be identifying potential suspects or potential witnesses … a lot of times, even before we pull a case number, we’re trying to get leads on it and see where it takes us.”
For instance, when a bicyclist was struck on Arnoldsville Road, the department used nearby Flock cameras to identify a vehicle coming from the area with new damage, allowing officers to identify the suspect.
The system can link specific license plates to active criminal records and notify officers when these plates are detected.
Gabriel said this makes them particularly useful around schools. If a tag number associated with a registered sex offender is spotted by a Flock camera near a school, dispatch is notified and officers can intervene.
The Sheriff’s Office trains new hires on proper usage, and is planning a session for all deputies in light of recent incidents.
“You do have to train your investigators and all of the deputies and officers … who are allowed to access (Flock),” Tyndell said. “That’s an in-house process on making sure that we’re holding true to what we are supposed to do.”