First of all, I just want to say I am way too deep into this. What started out as watching a YouTube video exposing insecure AI powered cameras livestreaming directly to the internet on a trail my wife and I have walked on, has turned into me flipping over rock after rock and unveiling larger and grosser cockroaches through open records requests.
These last cockroaches are pretty big and nasty, but I don’t think they are nuclear resistant yet, and I hope we can work together to squash them!
After discovering this nonsensical LinkedIn post defending Flock Vice President of Strategic Relations and Business Development Bob Carter, who I had revealed just days before, had accessed cameras at parks, playgrounds, and schools in Dunwoody, including in a children’s gymnastics room at a private community center, I was incensed.
Clearly no third-party investigation had been conducted, and it absolutely blew my mind that the State’s resources were going to defend this conduct. Furthermore, when Chris Carr’s defense of Flock on the Mayor’s Facebook post was shared with me, I was led into a fit of rage-induced insomnia where I discovered Carr's financial ties to Flock (more to come). But I wasn’t going to be done there.
Recently I found out that Bob texted Attorney General Chief of Staff Travis Johnson, soliciting that exact support.
I noticed that the text seemed part of a longer conversation, so I have been digging, and digging, and digging, and I’m too pissed off to stop.
Through this last round of open records requests obtained through the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, I have uncovered the close ties between Flock and the AGs office: Flock employees asking the AG’s office to support them in court (which they did without listing them as an interested party), and evidence that AG Carr was privately pressuring Dunwoody officials behind the scenes.
It is quite notable to me that Frank facilitated this intro, and his company (Modern Fortis) lists Flock as a customer on their website, but he is not registered as Flock’s lobbyist. Looks like I am going to have to file another state ethics complaint against Flock.
Bob and Travis discuss meeting with AG Carr in Washington DC in July, then later chat about some product demos for Nova, their AI-powered people search tool that combines Personally Identifiable Information such as property records, social security info, and credit history, with your movement.
Separately, I worked on pulling another thread by getting as much Flock info as possible through this open records request for Travis’ communications with Flock employees.
We start off the year with a bang! The first record we get is a meeting on behalf of Steve Nigrelli. Steve is a current Flock Employee, who was formerly the New York State Police Superintendent before he abruptly retired “after multiple allegations he harassed and was abusive to employees”. I’m sure he’s glad Flock is giving him a second chance!
The purpose of the meeting was laid out as follows: “During this Executive level meeting, we will discuss various use cases involving Flock solutions, as well as Georgia as a proposed Flock “Safe State.” This plan will be presented to the Governor’s office for consideration on a later date.”
The meeting was composed of members from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia State Patrol, and the AG’s office, as well as four Flock employees.
I’m not sure what a “Safe State” would be, but for Flock, a “Safe City” is just them doing an end around on local procurement processes to avoid oversight and those pesky citizens standing up against dumping their taxpayer dollars into a company with a “cavalier attitude towards cybersecurity”, and a long history of lying to the public.
I’ll let them explain it in their own words:
The next day, Flock also had another meeting. This time it was with all the aforementioned agencies as well as the Georgia Department of Corrections the next day to discuss drones.
It is interesting how far Flock is embedded within the law enforcement institutions in Georgia. Present were Colonel Billy Hitchens (Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Safety and Colonel of the Georgia State Patrol), Chris Hosey (Director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation), Tyrone Oliver (Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Corrections), Travis Johnson (Chief of Staff AG’s Office), and some high level staff.
The most interesting thing about the relationship between Flock and the AG’s office came next.
On February 18th, Bob texted Travis because Flock “wanted to see whether the Attorney General would be willing to also add amicus support to the Slaybaugh case”. Like you, I had no idea what the Slaybaogh case was.
Quick Case Overview: Robert Slaybaogh was convicted of a crime in Alabama. Part of the evidence used to convict him came from license plate reader cameras. His lawyers appealed the conviction to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (the federal appeals court that covers Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) arguing that using LPR camera data to catch him violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches.
If Slaybaogh won, it could set a precedent making LPR evidence harder to use across the entire 11th Circuit, which would directly threaten Flock’s business model across three states.
An amicus brief explanation: “Amicus curiae” means “friend of the court.” It’s when someone who isn’t a party to the case files a brief telling the court why they think it should rule a certain way
On February 27th, Chris Carr and his team submitted their brief in defense of LPRs.
What was particularly compelling to me about this chain of events is that the brief included 18 other Republican AGs, and Flock Safety appears nowhere in the Certificate of Interested Persons, even though Bob specifically asked AG Carr’s Chief of Staff if Carr would be willing to add this supporting brief.
But there is an even bigger link. On July 2, 2025, Flock Safety donated $25,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
RAGA is the national organization that coordinates joint legal actions among Republican state attorneys general. Every single AG on Carr’s amicus briefs is a RAGA member. This is exactly how RAGA works: corporations donate, and in return they get access to Republican AGs and their staffs. Documented investigations have described it as a pay-to-play operation where the amount you donate determines the level of access you receive.
So to recap this timeline:
- Flock donates $25,000 to RAGA in July 2025.
- An unregistered lobbyist (who lists Flock has a customer) has a meeting with AG Carr and Flock’s registered lobbyist where they “discuss what partnership looks like moving forward” and introduce Flock VP Bob Carter.
- Carter and multiple C Suite Employees spend the following months privately building a relationship.
- In February 2026, Carter texts Johnson asking whether Carr would be willing to file an amicus brief defending LPR technology in federal court.
- Nine days later, Carr files the brief, joined by 18 other Republican AGs who are all RAGA members. Johnson sends the filed brief directly to Carter the same day.
Flock Safety's name appears nowhere in either filing. The public record of those cases gives no indication Flock was involved at all, but these texts and emails I obtained through open records do.
These texts reveal way more than a Facebook comment, LinkedIn post, or Op-Ed could imagine. It is clear to me that this isn’t a state official independently weighing in on a public safety issue. The AG has been solicited and briefed by a private surveillance company’s Vice President to call individual City Council members on their behalf.
This “behind the scenes” tampering with the “weak Mayor” and City Council members on behalf of a private company is exactly the kind of work that the crisis management firms they secretly met with describe. West Shore Strategies’ website says they “craft a proactive narrative and implement it through targeted outlets”.
Here I was thinking myself and the other concerned citizens of Dunwoody were fighting a local contract renewal. I guess, to quote Flock CEO Garrett Langley, we “are under coordinated attack”.
On April 23rd, the Dunwoody City Council voted unanimously to approve a toothless MSA and purchase $215,000 more of Flock’s products.
There will be more to this story though. Speaking of Garrett Langley, it looks like him and AG Carr have also been working behind the scenes:
I for one am extremely curious about what their phone call entailed. And hopefully, through open records, I can find out more.
What I can tell you is that between the amicus briefs, the behind-the-scenes calls to Dunwoody officials, Carter asking Carr to amplify his LinkedIn post, the AG’s office drafting an op-ed that Johnson thought would be “helpful,” and a direct call between the Attorney General of Georgia and Flock’s CEO, this is clearly no longer a story about a local surveillance contract in a city of 55,000 people.
This is a story about what happens when an 8.4 billion-dollar AI surveillance company decides when citizens express concerns, that it is a problem to be managed, and discovers it has the resources of a sitting Attorney General at its disposal.
If you live in Dunwoody: please join our Dunwoody Forward Facebook group where we’re building something beyond this: a community that puts citizens ahead of corporations!
If you live elsewhere: join the national week of action!
National Week of Action Against ALPRs
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