(NEXSTAR) – Flock Safety, a surveillance equipment company, says it partners with more than 5,000 law enforcement agency partners across 6,000 communities. Is your city one of them?
The Flock cameras are solar-powered license plate readers that collect data as they record. Agencies that partner with Flock can then search the database for license plate numbers, car make and models, or identifying features like bumper stickers.
What are Flock cameras?
Proponents argue the cameras help law enforcement solve crimes, but critics say they data could be misused to track anyone, even those not accused of crimes, with little oversight.
“They’re just collecting data as an active surveillance system, and every car that passes through, the data is collected from that car license plate, using AI. They make a vehicle fingerprint of the car that includes distinguishing features, make, model, color, bumper stickers, roof racks, all these different things,” said Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs in an interview with NewsNation.
“And then it’s retained for sometimes 30 days or more and then in a searchable database, which really turns the whole concept of a license plate reader on its head in that they’re not looking for one specific vehicle or specific vehicles. They’re just pulling everything in.”
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Founder Garrett Langley said his surveillance equipment manufacturing company started out of frustration with crime rates in his home city of Atlanta…