Atlanta has 60,000 surveillance cameras linked to the police department’s network.
That’s 124 cameras per 1,000 people — more than any city in the country.
It’s not close. In second place is Washington, D.C., with 55. In third is Philadelphia with 31.
To find a city that could match Atlanta’s numbers, you’d have to go to China.
People here are waking up to the reality that they are the most surveilled people in what was once called the free world.
How did this place — diverse, liberal, relatively affluent — get to that place?
Part of it is trust. When the police department asked institutions, businesses and property owners to link their cameras to its network, a lot said yes.
But people have begun to worry that the system could be misused. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that some companies that manufacture these systems offer auditing features. The software allows supervisors to tell, for example, whether a police officer is using the system for legitimate reasons or to stalk acquaintances, such as former romantic partners.
When the city of Albany ran the audit, it fired five officers. I wasn’t clear on whether other officers were disciplined for lesser infractions.
In Atlanta, the police department, which apparently had been enjoying the public’s trust, undercut itself by fighting requests for information about the system. The requests were filed under Georgia’s open records laws.
The best light on the problem comes from a source in academia. Dr. Taylor Shelton, an associate professor in the Geosciences Department at Georgia State University, has found some interesting things while simply trying to map the city.
• Sources: Taylor Shelton, “Mapping Atlanta’s camera network and surveillance strategy”; Atlanta Community Press Collective, June 10, 2025. It’s here:
https://atlpresscollective.com/2025/06/10/atlanta-surveillance-camera-network/
Dr. Shelton’s website his here:
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