Cherokee County approves Canton police access to county intelligence platform; county requires firearms data be excluded

The Cherokee County Board of Commissioners approved an intergovernmental agreement Sept. 16 allowing the City of Canton Police Department to use the county—s law-enforcement intelligence-as-a-service (IaaS) software platform. The county required that records of persons who have applied for or been issued weapons-carry licenses be excluded from the shared dataset.

Under a motion by Commissioner Wetherbee, seconded by Commissioner Carter, the board approved an initial one-year IGA with up to two additional one-year renewals. Canton will reimburse the county $75,000 in the first year; future annual costs will be set by the county based on actual expenses. The Canton City Council previously approved the agreement at its Sept. 4 meeting, county staff said.

During earlier public comment a resident raised concerns about state law relating to firearms-license records. County counsel and sheriff—s staff explained there was no intent to violate statutory limits and that sensitive data would be excluded. The board—s approval included the explicit condition and direction that the county database not contain a list of persons who have been issued or have applied for weapons-carry licenses.

Sheriff's Office staff indicated that the county—s implementation of the platform will "scrub" or exclude weapons-license information to comply with Georgia law (cited in public comment as OCGA 16-11-129(k)(2) in the meeting record). The board—s recorded vote was unanimous.

Why it matters: Shared access to an intelligence platform can improve investigative and emergency response coordination between municipal and county law enforcement. The board—s recorded condition seeks to ensure compliance with state restrictions on sharing firearms-license information.