As True Today as in 1887

The words of John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton ring as true today as they did when he wrote them in 1887.

Lord Action was an English historian, politician and writer, and in a letter written to an Aglican bishop that he included these words, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

We have all seen this happen and I would suggest that “absolute power” is not required to cause corruption, as just a small amount of power appears to corrupt people quite well.

Front and center of today’s concern is the growing number of Flock camera systems and the growing misuse of information gathered by them.

A previous column noted how much, how often, and how many places we are being recorded on security systems as we go about our daily lives. For most people this has not been an issue as most of those systems do not know who we are or anything about us. Artificial Intelligence might change that at some point, but that will be a discussion for another day.

CURRENTLY it has been reported there are 21 Flock cameras located in Harris County, eight in Meriwether County, and none in Talbot County, along with a reported 140 in Muscogee and up to 86 in Troup County. There are 12,000 to 13,000 operating across Georgia, with an estimated 120,000 across the country – and the numbers might have increased since those reports were made. There can be no doubt that Flock Safety is making a fortune off taxpayers who ultimately fund their purchases.

The proponents of these systems, and mass surveillance of citizens, are quick to note successes of the Flock cameras, catching motorists with expired tags, no insurance, and other violations. There have been cases where such cameras have been instrumental in the arrests of actual criminals, and just recently surfaced a report in which a child was rescued from a predator with some of the information provided by such cameras.

But as in “Star Wars” some people we are supposed to trust with such information are seduced by the dark side, and the misuse of information developed by Flock cameras should be very concerning to us all.

Just in Georgia …

An officer in Polk County was arrested on four counts of misusing information from Flock cameras. She was only charged with misdemeanors.

In Albany, five police officers have been arrested for misusing information from Flock cameras, with one of them doing it 11 times.

In Savannah, four police officers have been fired with an investigation underway for misusing Flock camera information.

In Atlanta, eight officers have been suspended regarding Flock camera information.

Three “employees” with the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office resigned after an audit regarding information derived from Flock cameras.

Two civilian employees were fired from the Savannah Police Department apparently as a result from an investigation regarding Flock camera information.

A 911 Director in Dallas was arrested and charged with misusing information from Flock cameras for personal reasons. She was only charged with misdemeanors.

These are only a sampling of Flock-related abuses in Georgia, there are more.

In another state, a female police was fired for using Flock camera information to track her ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend.

ACTON was correct when he wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Something must be done to protect innocent public from those who would abuse the power of information provided by the cameras.

Flock cameras should be deactivated until there are adequate protections for the innocent from predators misusing the information.

That’s my opinion.

Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com