Hornell Mayor John Buckley defended the police department’s reinstituted camera surveillance system and shot down speculation on social media that the city is using controversial Flock Safety automated license plate readers to track motorists.
Over the last year or so, the city has accessed grant funding to revive its flagging camera system. The city announced in December 2024 a $229,205 state grant to finance a significant overhaul of its community surveillance system, which had been a long-standing priority in Hornell.
Through the state grant, the police department upgraded its video system, with multiple cameras providing live video feeds from ten priority locations around the city starting in 2025.
Police Chief Ted Murray told the Board of Public Safety at the time that the video is generally retained for about five days before it is overwritten.
The 2024 state grant also supported Hornell’s acquisition of two mobile license plate readers (LPRs).
And then just last month, Hornell announced that it had received a $10,000 Steuben County Law Enforcement Grant that will be used to purchase a new high resolution camera for the intersection of Seneca Street and State Street near Hornell High School.
Murray said the new camera “will significantly expand our ability to protect the more than 800 students, teachers, and staff at Hornell High School while also providing coverage of one of the busiest areas of our city.”
Buckley: Camera system is not new to Hornell
Buckley acknowledged he is aware of criticism directed at the police department’s revamped camera system on privacy grounds, but he defended the cameras as an effective public safety tool that has a long history of use in the city.
“We had a camera system in place in the city going back to around 2008, 2009 in that time frame,” the mayor said. “The only difference between the camera system we have in place now and then is the cameras are obviously newer and the quality is better. What the cameras actually do between then and now is the same.”
Buckley said one of the greatest values of the camera system is its ability to let law enforcement review the video of accidents, crashes and suspected crimes for a set number of days before the footage is overwritten.
For the most part, Buckley noted, the new cameras are stationed in the same locations the old, outdated cameras were placed.
Buckley said the same goes for the city’s two new mobile license plate readers.
“We had license plate readers going back before I became mayor,” he said. “We had at least one or two vehicles that had license plate readers. That really hasn’t changed.”
The cameras are operating in public areas where there is no expectation of privacy, city officials insist.
Buckley said the police department does not employ any fixed-standing license plate readers like those produced by Flock Safety.
“They are not Flock cameras. They are not integrated with artificial intelligence or anything like that,” Buckley said. “People are very sensitive to privacy issues and the invasion of privacy, but the City of Hornell Police Department is not doing anything today in this arena that they were not doing ten or 15 years ago.”
Lowe’s not sharing Flock camera data with Hornell PD
Both Murray and Buckley said the city has no connection to or receives any benefit from the Flock Safety automated license plate reader in the parking lot of Lowe’s Home Improvement store at 949 Route 36 in Hornell.
While Murray said he has heard strong reactions to the Flock Safety camera at Lowe’s, he said the store does not share data with the police department.
Lowe’s Home Centers Inc., based in Mooresville, North Carolina did not respond to an Evening Tribune email seeking comment and clarification on why the company placed an automated license plate reader on its property in Hornell.
However, Lowe’s discloses on its website that “some of our stores, when allowed by law, use cameras with automated license plate reader (“ALPR”) technology near and around parking areas. These systems use cameras to automatically capture images of vehicles and their license plates, along with the date, time and general location.”
Lowe’s said the the technology is used for “limited, authorized purposes” like ensuring security, preventing theft and fraud, assisting with parking enforcement and maintaining safety for customers and employees.
The company said it does not sell the ALPR information it collects and only shares it with select service providers who help maintain the technology and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Hornell PD does not have Flock Safety cameras in its system, city says
Reporting by Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune / The Evening Tribune
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By Neal Simon, Hornell Evening Tribune | USA TODAY Network
