Portsmouth police said they recently used technology — their Flock camera system — to help find and catch a wanted felon and last month Norfolk police said their cameras helped them locate a missing elderly man. Police said these two instances are examples of the cameras being used as a force multiplier. Now some in Hampton Roads hope to expand the system.
The Flock license plate cameras are motion activated to detect license plates and take pictures. Then the pictures are run through several different crime databases. The system is meant to help law enforcement find stolen vehicles, wanted offenders, and missing people – like in the case of amber and silver alerts.
“One thing to note is that sometimes you’ll actually see vehicle stops go down, because rather than pulling over every vehicle that might be suspicious, officers know exactly what vehicles are reported stolen or associated with wanted offenders and then only pull over those vehicles. So, it’s precision policing,” said Holly Beilin, Flock Safety spokesperson.