DECATUR, GA — Decatur police are investigating a recent increase in vandalism involving Flock surveillance cameras around the city.

Decatur Police Chief Scott Richards told city leaders that cameras have been spray-painted, damaged, turned away from the roadway and removed.

“We’ve had some cameras that have been spray painted and damaged within the community, we’ve had some that had been turned the opposite way where they are unable to record tags that come through that particular area,” Richards said.

Richards says two cameras were spray-painted, while another incident involved a pole being cut down. Most recently, a camera and its pole were stolen.

“We had a pole cut down that had a Flock Safety camera on it, and most recently this past week we had the pole and the camera stolen from its location,” Richards said.

Richards says damage to the cameras has been an ongoing issue for the past year, with an increase following recent cases involving metro Atlanta law enforcement employees accused of misusing Flock license plate reader data.

Decatur police are investigating the vandalism and say anyone identified as responsible could face consequences.

“If we are able to apprehend the person that’s responsible for that, then they will be held accountable, or persons,” Richards said.

The city’s maintenance contract with Flock does not cover damage to the cameras.

Similar vandalism has also been reported in Barrow County, where authorities say several Flock cameras were recently damaged by a suspect using a saw.

Flock cameras read license plates and vehicle information to help law enforcement track down suspects and missing people. Some residents have raised privacy concerns about the surveillance system.

Atlanta-based Flock Safety says it is making changes in response to concerns surrounding the technology, including requiring police agencies to use a tool designed to automatically detect abnormal searches by officers.

WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Jordan D. Brown contributed to this story.