The Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) provides a substantial amount of funding for the Atlanta Police Department's (APD) surveillance apparatus. APF holds a number of the contracts with the private vendors who provide surveillance technology to the Atlanta Police Department.

Another Atlanta-based surveillance technology company, Flock Safety, provides APD with automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras. ALPRs are a dragnet surveillance technology as cameras are placed along roadways with the specific intention of scanning every license plate that passes. APD first started using Flock cameras in 2021, after APD contracted with the company and the Flock's cameras were integrated into the VIC.

Documents obtained via public records request:

- Assortment of documents pertaining to APD's use of Flock cameras

Connect Atlanta is an extension and rebrand of Operation Shield. APF signed a contract Atlanta-based surveillance company Fusus after the Video Integration Center was subject to a ransomwear attack in 2018. APF contracted with Fusus for the company's "situational awareness" real time crime center software designed for integration of multiple surveillance technologies into a single map. APF now states that APD pays for the Fusus contract.

Fusus also has a direct to consumer camera sales program which allows Atlanta residents to buy a camera and either register it with APD or "integrate" the camera's feed into the Operation Shield/Connect Atlanta network, even allowing APD real-time access to cameras. Private camera owners with a non-Fusus camera are also able to register and integrate their camera into APD's camera feed.

Documents obtained via public records request:

- APD contract with Fusus

In 2017, APD created a “Drone Unit” intended to identify criminals or missing people. Drones were used to monitor Cop City protestors and forest defenders. As of early 2024, the Unit had four officers.

APF created Operation Shield for the Atlanta Police Department in 2007. On their website, APF describes the system as:

"our network of more than 16,000 public and private sector cameras, monitors Atlanta’s neighborhoods, business centers, major public spaces, and thoroughfares. The cameras are integrated into APD’s Video Surveillance Center which provides real-time monitoring and dispatching of police to trouble spots. Some 80% of the cost is borne by the private sector." In 2021, APF proposed expanding Operation Shield by an additional 250 cameras, including “pan-tilt-zoom” cameras, automated license plate readers, and quad cameras.

The Atlanta Police Department has been using Peregrine, a real time decision platform for police, since at least 2023. Peregrine is a single access point enabling police to integrate different datasets drawn from different technologies for analysis. The company claims that the software uses machine learning to identify trends and conduct network mapping, spatial mapping, among other analyses. Peregrine is similar to Palantir but its primary market place are police. Peregrine is based in Atlanta.

APD Homeland Security Unit has used social media monitoring tools since at least 2021. The Unit has used these tools to monitor and surveil first amendment protected activities of protestors, organizers, and activists. This surveillance includes documenting the activities of specific people and organizing, such as Stop Cop City actions.

APD's camera network is housed at the "Loudermilk Operation Shield Video Integration Center." According to EFF, "The VIC was launched in 2007 as part of the police department’s Operation Shield, a video camera integration network coordinated by the Atlanta Police Foundation and the Atlanta Police Department. In 2012, the VIC received $2.25 million, including $1.25 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and $1 million from the family of local businessman Charlie Loudermilk."

The VIC acts as APD's real time crime center where the extensive network of surveillance cameras, automated license plate readers, and other surveillance technologies are monitored by APD officers and other non-APD staff. The VIC acts as a central intelligence hub for APD.

Documents obtained via public records request:

- VIC training materials

- VIC staff from 1/1/2022 through 5/12/2023.

Clearview AI is a company which sells a facial recognition technology to police. The company is notorious for scraping 30 billion images from social media platforms without permission to train its algorithm. According to a public records request, APD contracted with Clearview AI in 2019.

As part of Microsoft’s “smart city” partnership with the City of Atlanta, Microsoft constructed “Operation Aware” as a real-time decision making platform for the Atlanta Police Department in 2017. This tool not only integrated datasets from APD’s existing surveillance apparatus but also included other data collected from sensors and other smart city infrastructure.

PredPol is a predictive policing technology used to dictate police patrol patterns by determining "hot spot" locations and times for when crime will occur in a certain area based upon historical "crime data" for that area. Predictive policing is as racist as it seems. According to a public records request: "Predpol was provided to the Atlanta Police Department as part of a pilot program by the Atlanta Police Foundation, which is a separate entity. We discontinued our use of the software two years later in 2016."

ShotSpotter is a gunshot detection technology sold by a company named SoundThinking (the company rebranded from ShotSpotter in 2023 but it's primary product is still known as ShotSpotter). ShotSpotter is a highly inaccurate audio detection tool that Atlanta piloted and rejected in 2018 and 2022.