Milton police have been holding onto license plate reader data for a full year — up from the 30-day window the department used to keep. The change was first reported by The Roundabout, a local Milton newsletter, which published the department's written answers to its questions on Sunday, Sept. 13. The switch was never publicly announced; it surfaced only through that exchange.

According to the department's written response, the extension was framed as a program upgrade meant to support investigations where a lead might not turn up right away. Officials haven't said exactly when the switch took effect or who signed off on it.

The move is legal — Georgia law permits departments to hold the data for up to 30 months — but it runs opposite to where the industry is heading. Flock Safety, the vendor supplying Milton's cameras, cut its own default retention period for new customers down to just seven days on Aug. 13.

The same round of written answers contained another disclosure the department hadn't previously made public: two of its own officers' searches are now under internal investigation for potential misuse, though the department hasn't detailed what prompted the review. Mayor Peyton Jamison said he couldn't comment on personnel matters, and his written statement, sent that Sunday, made no mention of the investigations either, according to The Roundabout's reporting.

Milton's surveillance network, per the department's own accounting, now spans 36 Flock cameras — 33 fixed to poles and three mobile units — plus license-plate-reading equipment on 39 marked patrol vehicles. Officers can additionally pull footage from 15 privately owned cameras posted at neighborhood entrances and shopping centers. The department told The Roundabout that not every search requires advance approval or supervisory sign-off beforehand, though all searches are logged and flagged for review by a three-member team using Flock's built-in audit tool.

A former Alpharetta officer faces charges

In a separate but related case, former Alpharetta police officer Dustin Bozzo was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 27 and charged the following day with a misdemeanor under Georgia's license plate data law, O.C.G.A. § 35-1-22, according to Fulton County State Court records. WIRED reported that Bozzo had resigned Aug. 5 once an internal probe determined he'd searched two coworkers' vehicles 85 times. He posted a $125,000 signature bond and was released. As of The Roundabout's Sept. 13 publication, none of the parties involved — the Fulton County Solicitor-General's office, Bozzo's attorney, or the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety — had responded to requests for comment. The allegations remain untested in court.

Camera spending becomes a campaign flashpoint

The retention disclosure landed just days after license plate cameras became a flashpoint at Milton's Sept. 9 City Council meeting. During public comment, resident Lindsay DeFranco laid out records she'd obtained documenting the system's growth: a single camera installed at Bell Memorial Park in 2019, nine more added through a 2022 consent agenda, at least 27 in place by the end of 2025, and more than $227,000 paid to Flock over that span. DeFranco is running as the Democratic nominee for Georgia House District 47.

Roughly 90 minutes later, Council Member Carol Cookerly used her turn at the dais to push back, saying DeFranco's comments were riddled with inaccuracies and arguing that any political candidate who takes that approach is being irresponsible. DeFranco said afterward that she'd already left the meeting by the time Cookerly responded.

State campaign finance records show Cookerly donated $500 in April to the campaign of Jack Miller, the Republican running against DeFranco in the same District 47 race.

DeFranco posted footage of the exchange to YouTube on Sept. 11; by the night of Sept. 12, the video had drawn more than 60,000 views.

What comes next

Separately, state Sen. John Albers is partnering with the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and the Georgia Sheriffs' Association on a task force studying license plate reader policy statewide, Decaturish reported. The group is expected to issue recommendations ahead of Georgia's 2027 legislative session.

Milton's City Council next meets Monday, Sept. 21. No item related to the Flock camera program currently appears on the agenda.