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As national conversations about Flock cameras span from a growing number installed across the country and the potential misuse of license plate data, users in local Facebook groups, including in “Columbus MS (What’s Going On),” are also debating whether the cameras are being used in the Golden Triangle.
On both levels, national open-source mapping projects deflock.org and dontgetflocked.com are floated to show residents where to find ALPR cameras in their cities. These maps do show cameras in Columbus, but city officials say they are not Flock cameras.
What are Flock cameras? What, exactly, do they do? Are they in our communities? And what are local law enforcement agencies using them for?
Flock Safety is a brand of artificial intelligence-powered ALPR cameras that record and track passing vehicles, capturing photos of each one that drives past. According to Flock’s website, there are 120,000 cameras operating across 49 states, sending data to a shared cloud database that is occasionally shared across jurisdictions.
The AI algorithms note specific features like bumper stickers, roof racks, dents and scratches, often turning these into searchable data points. Every photo records the exact timestamp and geographic location, building a travel history for the vehicle.
The cameras collect data regardless of whether the driver is suspected of a crime. Flock is not the only ALPR vendor, with other vendors collecting data similarly.
According to area law enforcement and city governments, there are currently no Flock brand cameras in Starkville or Columbus. Instead, agencies in both cities use Motorola Solutions cameras, which like Flock Safety cameras, capture vehicle license plate data and specific vehicle traits in real time using AI.
Starkville Police Chief Mark Ballard confirmed the city currently has four Motorola cameras – though the city recently approved adding five new cameras in their most recent budget meeting at a cost of $27,500.
Capt. Brett Watson, with Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office, said the agency does not specifically use Flock or Motorola cameras, but there are ALPR cameras in the county. He did not provide the number.
Mayor Stephen Jones confirmed Columbus has three Motorola Solutions ALPR cameras, and the city also has 25 total Project N.O.L.A. cameras operating throughout the city, along with five “Sky Cop” cameras monitoring crime hot spots. These cameras have ALPR technology as well as gun-shot detection, night vision and live facial recognition.
Sheriff Eddie Hawkins said Lowndes County owns about 24 Motorola cameras, but they are not always used at the same time. His office can move the cameras as needed. He said the locations of the cameras are decided using crime and traffic data.
“(The cameras) are investigative tools,” Hawkins said. “This technology is designed to assist law enforcement in identifying vehicles that are associated with criminal activity. This could include stolen vehicles or wanted persons, missing persons and vehicles that are connected to ongoing investigations.”
Sheriff Hawkins emphasized the cameras are not being used to target “law-abiding citizens.”
He said that his department has seen a “tremendous decrease in violent crime and property thefts,” and that the cameras have helped LCSO locate perpetrators in several cases, including at least two murder cases. In another instance the cameras helped locate a man who abandoned a baby at Baptist-Memorial Hospital Golden Triangle. They’ve also been used during Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts.
“This system doesn’t replace traditional police work,” Hawkins said. “We use it as information. The deputies will still have to go out and verify the information and conduct their own investigation accordingly.”
News outlets have reported that private neighborhoods and homeowners associations use the systems to monitor traffic and investigate crimes, but SPD, Columbus Police Department and LCSO confirmed they do not share the data with any private businesses.
“There’s a commercial side and law enforcement side,” Hawkins said. “We do not share data with any private industries.”
Columbus Police Chief Garland Ward confirmed that his agency does not share information with federal agencies, such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement without a subpoena.
An ongoing review of media reports and public records compiled by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, has identified dozens of cases nationwide of officers allegedly abusing ALPR data to keep tabs on romantic interests, exes and occasionally strangers.
Both county and city officials said officers’ access to camera data is limited. CPD’s Ward said only administrators have access and their usage is monitored strictly.
The situation is similar at LCSO and SPD.
“Not all investigative personnel have access to the system,” said Hawkins, in regards to deputy access. “We don’t want deputies to misuse this information and go out there searching randomly.”
CPD, SPD and LCSO are each working toward putting policies in place to guide the usage of the cameras, and Ward, Ballard and Hawkins, respectively, confirmed the departments are creating orders that include what disciplinary action, including possible termination, that would be taken if an officer was found to be abusing the technology.
Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill said there are already specific protocols and procedures in place that ensure the cameras are being used appropriately. Because Starkville lacks the funding to have a “100-person police department,” she said the cameras have made a big difference when large populations come to town for events.
“If people aren’t feeling safe, then they’re not coming to our community,” she said. “I want people to know that when they come here, when they bring their children here to live during their school years, that they’ll have a safe experience, and that’s the focus.”