Flock Safety Cameras are seemingly everywhere in the Ozarks. Springfield, Nixa, Willard, Branson, Lebanon, and Lake of the Ozarks are home to a multitude of these solar powered Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) all operated by local police agencies. Springfield alone has more than 40 of these cameras in operation.
How It Works: The cameras of Flock Safety use AI to power their extensive network. They have a range of about 15 to 75 feet and take pictures, not video. They are not operated like “red light” cameras, but instead snap a digital picture of passing vehicles and their plates recording the year, make and model, color, distinguishing marks on the vehicle (like a crumpled fender or bumper) and the plate number (or not!). The system does not use facial recognition.
Once the data is captured temporarily by the camera, the data is uploaded to secure cellular connections to the Amazon Web Services “Cloud” and encrypted end-to-end. Once the image is successfully uploaded it is automatically purged from the local camera. The cloud storage process includes automatic deletion after 30 days, unless required for an active investigation.
Flock cameras are networked. They are interconnected via cloud-based software that allows law enforcement agencies to share data across jurisdictions. So, for example, if you commit a felony in St. Louis but you live in Springfield, chances are good the police will be waiting for you when you get home… if you make it that far!
Pros: Flock cameras provide real-time crime alerts, searchable vehicle databases, and provide instant notification to law enforcement when a stolen vehicle or known suspects plate passes by. The presence of these cameras also act as a strong physical deterrent.
Cons: Critics of Flock Safety cameras cite concerns over mass warrantless surveillance, data security risks with a potential for misuse, radical privacy erosion, and “false alarms” with system errors.
Where To Get More Information: Locally you can view the Springfield Police Department Transparency Portal to see detection statistics and hotlist hits in the area, or to find the location of cameras near you, go to DeFlock Map and launch the map.
There are currently 106,932 LPR’s mapped in the United States.
(Image courtesy of Shutterstock)