Amid nationwide concerns about the surveillance capabilities of Flock Safety cameras, Gainesville Police Chief Nelson Moya said the Gainesville Police Department has not identified any instances of misuse involving license plate data.
Moya addressed public concerns about the technology during the Gainesville City Commission’s Aug. 6 meeting after presenting the department’s second-quarter crime statistics and employment update. Mayor Harvey Ward asked the chief to provide more information about the city’s use of Flock cameras.
Recent media reports have highlighted both successful investigations and alleged abuses involving the camera network. USA TODAY Network-Florida reported Aug. 3 on examples from Florida and Georgia in which law enforcement agencies used the technology to solve crimes, as well as cases in which officers allegedly misused the system.
One widely cited success involved the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, which used license plate readers to help locate a 13-year-old girl abducted from her home on July 27 by tracking the suspect’s SUV in real time.
In contrast, five former Albany Police Department officers in Georgia have been accused of using Flock license plate camera technology to conduct personal searches unrelated to official investigations.
Calling Flock a valuable law enforcement tool, Moya acknowledged public concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of personal information while emphasizing its usefulness in combating crime.
Moya said Flock cameras capture license plate information and compare it with vehicle registration and driver’s license records, similar to information available through motor vehicle databases. He said the system does not use facial recognition technology.
According to Moya, the system automatically generates alerts for Amber Alerts, stolen vehicles and stolen license plates. Additional alerts can be added on a case-by-case basis during criminal investigations.
“For example, if we know that we’re dealing with a shooting suspect and he’s driving a black Mazda, we can input it to the system so that it can give us alerts for black Mazdas,” Moya said. “Beyond that, it is strictly and solely used for reported crimes.”
While Moya did not specify the locations of all Flock cameras in Gainesville, he said about 10 cameras are installed throughout the city.
On April 2, The Sun reported that the City Commission approved two solar-powered Flock-enabled cameras, costing $3,850 each, at the intersection of Northwest 23rd Avenue (CR 172) and Northwest Sixth Street.
Moya said GPD’s agreement with Flock allows data collected by the department to remain on the company’s servers for up to 30 days. After that period, he said, the information is no longer available, even through a subpoena.
He emphasized that the department is not actively monitoring residents through the system.
Moya said storage and security requirements are governed by criminal justice information system standards and oversight from agencies including the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“They’re the ones that regulate the technical aspect of the storage as they inspect Flock,” Moya said. “We here locally have not had a breach, to my knowledge, because I asked, nor a misuse that I would have to report to y’all.”
Addressing concerns about potential abuse, Moya said department policy requires officers to enter an active case number before conducting a license plate search. Supervisors can review those searches to ensure they are connected to legitimate public safety investigations.
“There is no free-for-all where someone can sit there and look up a tag to see if a commissioner is going by this intersection at what time,” Moya said. “No, no, no, no. That would be a huge flag for us.”
Ward also asked whether Gainesville’s Flock cameras function solely as license plate readers. Moya confirmed that they do.
Commissioner Bryan Eastman, who said he had not expected the topic to come up during the meeting, called Flock “powerful technology” and said he would like a more detailed discussion about the department’s internal policies and safeguards surrounding the system.
Although Moya said he was prepared to bring department experts to provide additional information, Eastman noted the meeting’s time constraints and suggested continuing the discussion at a later date.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: GPD Chief Moya says no misuse of Flock cameras found at department
Reporting by Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Elliot Tritto, Gainesville Sun | USA TODAY Network
