A St. Pete resident, Carl Gunn, has been protesting Flock cameras in his area, citing concerns over privacy and Fourth Amendment rights. Gunn, 77, spends his Saturdays sitting in a lawn chair on the side of roads, holding a sign that reads ‘Down with the Flock’ to block the cameras.
What are Flock Cameras?
Flock cameras, also known as license plate readers (LPRs), capture vehicle data that can help law enforcement with criminal investigations. The cameras can collect information such as license plates, makes, models, colors, and the times and locations that vehicles passed the cameras.
According to Flock, the company has helped solve cases involving stolen vehicles, burglaries, assaults, missing persons, and other serious crimes. However, concerns are growing across the country about how the information captured by these cameras is used.
Concerns Over Privacy
Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit formed to defend civil liberties and privacy, said that the issue with tools like Flock cameras is that they are interconnected. This means that by driving past multiple cameras, law enforcement can collect data in a centralized way and track individuals as they go about their day.
Guariglia also noted that the legal system is set up to require individualized suspicion, meaning that police need to suspect someone of committing a crime before collecting information about them. However, with Flock cameras, law enforcement can collect information on everyone, and then decide who is suspicious.
Jean-Luc Adrien, a Tampa attorney, said that when police offload ‘finding suspicion’ to an automated system, problems can arise. For example, data sets are not always updated, or people are jailed based on an automated misread or outdated information.
Response from Flock and Law Enforcement
Flock disagreed that LPRs violate the Fourth Amendment, citing that more than 40 courts across the country have determined that they cannot track the whole of an individual’s movements. The company also said that law enforcement agencies own and control their data, and that access is limited to authorized viewers.
St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said that the cameras do not use facial recognition technology and that information is only accessed when connected to a legitimate public safety purpose. Holloway also noted that officers who misuse the system face disciplinary action and can be fired.
Original reporting: St. Pete Catalyst — read the source article.
