Did anyone elected approve Milton's year of plate data?

Milton police keep the photos and vehicle data from the city’s 36 Flock license plate cameras for a year, up from 30 days. The department says the longer window helps investigators whose leads surface late. Flock Safety makes the cameras and stores what they capture.

We asked who approved the change. The department wrote on Sept. 18 that it took effect in October 2025, in an upgrade the chief and the city manager authorized. Then it added a line about Flock:

“This was before Flock’s new August 13, 2026 guidance calling for elected-official or governing-body approval of longer periods.”

Milton’s change did come before that August guidance. But the approval rule in it was not new. By April 2025, about six months before Milton’s change, a public policy on Flock’s website set a standard of 30 days and said a longer period, up to a year, needed approval from an elected official or a governing body, such as a city council. Our Sept. 20 issue printed the department’s timeline too; our correction is below.

What changed when By April 2025 · Flock Flock’s evidence policy sets a 30-day standard. A police agency can keep data up to a year, but only after an elected official or a governing body approves it. October 2025 · Milton Milton goes from 30 days to a year. The police chief and the city manager authorized it, the department says. Aug. 12 and 13, 2026 · Flock Flock cuts its standard to seven days, first in its policy and then in an announcement. The approval sentence stays the same. Sept. 18, 2026 · Milton police The department writes that Milton’s change came before Flock’s “new August 13, 2026 guidance” on approval.

Page 6 of Flock’s Evidence Request Policy, as the Internet Archive, which saves copies of web pages, captured it on April 8, 2025. The highlighted rule says Flock “shall require the agency to first obtain approval from an elected official and/or a governing body.” (Retention means how long data is kept.) The same file is still on Flock’s website. Highlighting ours. Tap the page to open the full policy.

The chief and the city manager are appointed, not elected. Flock’s policy gives its reason for the rule: approval “allows the decision to be made transparently and with the support of the community.” Its current policy, updated in August, cuts the standard to seven days and keeps that rule word for word.

It is a company rule, not a law. Georgia lets police keep plate data up to 30 months, so a year is legal. But the policy puts the duty on Flock, which “shall require” the approval.

Still open. We asked Flock on Monday whether it required, and received, that approval from Milton before switching on the one-year setting. It had not answered by our 9 p.m. deadline; we will print its answer when it comes. Our Sept. 26 written questions to the department, due Friday, ask whether the mayor or any councilmember was told before the change took effect.

The department’s side. It chose a year from investigative experience, the department says. A lead on a vehicle may not turn up within seven or 30 days, especially while detectives wait on cell phone records or other evidence obtained through legal process. In several cases, older plate records have helped confirm evidence that came in later. The department says plate data is not treated as proof by itself, only as one tool alongside other evidence.

It also points to the city’s budget book for the year that began Oct. 1, 2025, which gives the change one line, “upgraded software to extend retention of data,” without saying for how long. Asked whether the Council discussed it, the department said: “We can’t recall if it was specifically discussed during a Council meeting.” The city will seek outside guidance, it said, and will look at whether a coming Flock feature can keep the records open cases need if Milton shortens how long it keeps everything else.

That feature is what Flock calls Evidence Mode. Flock announced it Aug. 13, saying it lets detectives preserve specific plate records for an active investigation, and that “customers who adopt the 7-day recommendation will receive Evidence Mode at no cost.” Flock said then that it would roll out “in the coming weeks”; the department called it “forthcoming” on Sept. 18. Flock also says it will require case codes on all law enforcement searches, and its audit tool for every police customer, by the end of the year. Milton already uses that audit tool, the department told us Sept. 11.

Nearby. Alpharetta and Johns Creek keep their plate data 30 days, their police departments’ public camera pages say; Roswell’s page does not list a period. Read the full story, with both versions of Flock’s policy.

Reader poll · One tap Who should decide how long Milton keeps plate camera data? Milton’s police chief and city manager authorized the move from 30 days to a year, the department told us, saying leads can surface late. Flock’s policy calls for approval from an elected official or a governing body, such as a city council. Georgia law allows up to 30 months. City Council, in a public vote The police chief and city manager State law, one rule for all of Georgia Not sure Tap once and you’ll see how everyone else voted. Results Thursday.

Your turn. Has one of Milton’s plate cameras ever helped you, or worried you? Reply to this email and tell us what happened. We won’t print your name or your words without asking.