Cherokee County
County record. Includes every city and agency within Cherokee County.
Technology presence
What these categories mean
- ALPR
- Automated license plate readers (ALPR): camera systems that automatically capture, read, and log vehicle license plates with location and time, producing a searchable record of vehicle movements.
- Fixed cameras & RTCC
- Agency-operated fixed video cameras and the real-time crime centers (RTCC) that aggregate live and recorded feeds for monitoring. Extends the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Atlas, which enumerates real-time crime centers and camera registries but not standalone fixed-camera estates.
- Face recognition
- Software that matches faces in images or video against a reference database to identify or verify individuals.
- Drones / UAS
- Uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), commonly called drones, operated by an agency for overhead observation, imaging, or sensing.
- Gunshot detection
- Networks of acoustic sensors that detect and locate suspected gunfire and alert an agency.
- Body-worn & dashcam
- Officer body-worn and in-vehicle dashboard cameras that record encounters; public access to the footage is frequently restricted.
- Doorbell & camera registry
- Programs that give an agency access to privately owned camera footage: doorbell-camera partnerships, citizen camera registries, and private-camera integration platforms.
- Cell-site simulators
- Devices that mimic cell towers to locate or identify nearby mobile phones. They are often called Stingrays, or IMSI catchers after the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number that identifies each phone on a network. Adjacent: communications surveillance outside the visual/sensor core.
- Predictive policing
- Software that forecasts where crime may occur or who may be involved, to direct policing. Adjacent: analytics rather than a sensing deployment.
- Social-media monitoring
- Tools that collect and analyze public social-media activity for an agency. Adjacent: open-source/communications monitoring outside the visual/sensor core.
The record, by agency
Woodstock Police Department
As of April 2024, the Woodstock Police Department operates seven Flock Safety automated license plate readers. The agency stores ALPR data for 30 days.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Flock SafetyThe News & ObserverThe News & Observer
The U.S. Department of Justice awarded $60,000 to the Woodstock Police Department in 2016 as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance's body-worn camera grant program.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): U.S Department of Justice
Cherokee County Sheriff's Office
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office began building a real-time information center in 2025.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Cherokee County Sheriff
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office received a $518,788 Community Public Safety Grant in 2023, which the agency planned to use for Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): State of GeorgiaCherokee Tribune & Ledger-News
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office operates two DJI drones as of 2016, according to data compiled by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard Collegeregistry.faa.govwww.goupstate.com
The Cherokee Sheriff's Office maintains a camera registry via Axon's Fusus camera registry system.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): AxonCherokee County Sheriff's Office
Canton Police Department
The Canton Police Department uses WatchGuard body-worn cameras after first implementing a BWC program in 2016.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Canton Police Department FacebookCity of Canton
The Canton City Council approved a police proposal to install automated license plate readers in 2019. The agency also has ALPRs mounted on four patrol cars.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): AJC
Cherokee County Sheriff's Department
As of 2017, some staff at the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center wore body-worn cameras.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): Prison Rape Elimination Act Audit
Ball Ground Police Department
The Ball Ground Police Department scanned 175,506 license plates in 2019 using Vigilant Solutions automated license plate readers.
Sources (via the EFF Atlas): MuckRock
Source: EFF Atlas of Surveillance (Electronic Frontier Foundation & University of Nevada, Reno — Reynolds School of Journalism) · CC BY 4.0 · retrieved July 2026