Flock cameras in Cheyenne help track vehicle movements

A Republican lawmaker from Laramie County says a legislative committee is working on legislation to address concerns about Flock cameras and other Automatic License Plate Readers [ALPRs].

The cameras read license plates to identify when and where a vehicle is traveling. In Cheyenne, the Cheyenne Police Department deploys 23 cameras.

In a January interview with Townsquare Media, Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco stressed that the cameras read license plates. He said the cameras do not take photos of the driver or any passengers in the car. He also said the data is only accessed as part of an investigation, and random drivers are not tracked, nor is their privacy violated.

He says the cameras take a photo of the rear license plate.

''You cannot see the driver or anyone in the vehicle,'' Francisco said. He added that "unless we query it for a criminal justice reason, it sits in a database for 30 days and is then deleted."

Francisco also said the cameras had helped CPD catch several criminals and had provided important leads in ongoing criminal investigations

You can read more about the use of Flock cameras in Cheyenne here.

Rep. Singh Cites Fourth Amendment Concerns

Rep. Daniel Singh [R-Laramie County], in a Facebook post, wrote:

"In my opinion, you are not free if you are constantly being surveilled. The government should not be able to use new technology to build a detailed picture of an innocent person’s movements and daily life without appropriate constitutional safeguards.

The Fourth Amendment was written to protect Americans from unreasonable government searches and surveillance. New technology does not make those protections any less important.

The committee expects to have a draft bill addressing ALPRs, data retention, access to that data, and the use of artificial intelligence ready for consideration in September."

He says the Select Committee on Blockchain, Financial Technology and Digital Innovation Technology is working on the legislation.