Online Poll: Use Of Flock Cameras By Wyoming Law Enforcement

We're hearing more and more these days about the use of Flock cameras [or Automated License Plate Readers] as a law enforcement tool in Wyoming communities.

The Green River City Council last month voted 6-1 against the installation of ALPR cameras, according to Sweetwater Now. While those cameras would have actually been Motorola cameras, not made by Flock, the concept was the same: a camera that reads license plates and records them for law enforcement.

The use of the cameras was voted down after a large number of residents said they were concerned that the cameras are an intrusion on privacy and are vulnerable to abuse.

Arguments For The Cameras

Cheyenne has 23 Flock cameras installed across the city, according to the Cheyenne Police Department Transparency portal. The portal says the cameras have recorded 243,158 unique license plate reads over the last 30 days. Since that period includes Cheyenne Frontier Days, it's probably safe to assume that number is unusually high for Cheyenne.

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 already 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.

Arguments Against Flock Cameras

Needless to say, opponents of the Flock cameras take a very different view. For example, ACLU Wyoming recently posted an article on Facebook titled "How To Fight Deployment of Flock and other Mass Surveillance License Plate Readers in Your Community."

The article includes the following:

''Flock is building a giant camera network that records people’s comings and goings across the nation. It then makes that data available for any of its law enforcement customers. A current Flock law enforcement customer can also run a search on behalf of other agencies, like ICE. This provides even small-town sheriffs access to a sweeping and powerful mass-surveillance tool. Big actors like federal agencies and large urban police departments can also access the comings and goings of vehicles in even the smallest of towns.''

Opponents of the cameras in general argue they can be misused by those with access to the data, and that the cameras in general are an erosion of the prviacy ot motorists who are innocent of any crime.

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak recently told Townsquare Media that his agency isn't using Flock cameras and has no plans to do so.

So what do you think? Take our poll and give us your opinion!