Mayor Dan Ridenour Voices Support for Flock Surveillance Cameras, Claims They’re “Used A Lot†in Community Update Video
MUNCIE, Ind. (The CI) - In a community update video, Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour voiced his support for Flock surveillance cameras.
“All we want to be able to do is be able to help solve crimes, so it’s used a lot in investigations, and it’s used a lot, and it’s provided some very positive results,” Ridenour said.
Flock cameras are license plate readers from Georgia-based tech firm Flock Safety. Unlike traditional readers, Flock’s nationwide network allows law enforcement agencies to search for specific vehicle characteristics—even outside of their jurisdiction.
This technology could be used to track people, and, according to reporting from Douglas MacMillan, Aaron Schaffer and Drew Harwell with The Washington Post, the surveillance camera network has been abused by a police officer in Indianapolis (a 61 mile drive from Muncie). The Post reported “an Indianapolis officer appeared to use Flock cameras to track vehicles used by his wife and two close personal acquaintances, searching 3,759 times over a 10-month period—an average of about 12 lookups per day.”
Public News Service bureaus in West Virginia, North Dakota and New Mexico report community action against the technology.
In West Virginia, Nadia Ramlagan reported one resident is suing the City of Huntington (a 257 mile drive from Muncie) over approval of the technology, arguing it’s invasive and unconstitutional.
In North Dakota, Judith Ruiz-Branch reported The Faith and Conviction Coalition partnered with local organizations for DeFlock’s National Week of Action. Residents in Taos, New Mexico (a 1,291 mile drive from Muncie) also participated, according to reporting from Roz Brown. Jordan Honeycutt with Nexstar station KRQE reported Taos voted to shift $54,000 “that would have gone to renewing its contract with [Flock].”
Cameron Noe with Ball State’s Daily News reported a Flock camera at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Dicks Street was cut down on August 3. On August 11, Matt Christy with Fox 59 reported two brothers were arrested “after allegedly admitting to cutting down a Flock camera on Ball State’s campus.”
Ridenour says the technology has provided “positive results” to the Muncie community.
“We see a lot, we hear a lot, we probably read a lot—especially on social media—about Flock, and I want to clarify that I’m gonna talk about [the] Muncie Police Department only,” Ridenour said. “I cannot speak for other departments, [and] I can’t even speak for Delaware County, but we and the City of Muncie and the mayor are very supportive of Flock, for the results—the positive results—that it has provided.”
Ridenour said that if a Muncie Police Department (MPD) officer wants to use the technology, they must complete a “special training program” first.
“So, it’s not something an officer can just start using,” Ridenour said. “You have to go through this special training. There are separate operating procedures that have to be read and addressed as well, so it’s not part of standard operating—there are separate additional requirements to even operate the Flock, and one of those is the training.”
Ridenour also said MPD officers won’t be able to request data from other agencies “without approval.” The mayor also stated that “two state representatives” have “gone through a program that shows how [Flock] works, what it’s done, what it’s achieved, what the operating procedures are, and [the city has] offered that to every city council member.”
The CI has yet to find any published procedures regarding the usage of Flock cameras by MPD.
When we searched for Flock on the City of Muncie’s website, we’ve found a press release from Michele Owen from August 18, stating MPD was installing 22 cameras “to solve and reduce violent crime.”
The release also mentioned “an ALPR Transparency Portal.” We found a link for “Flock Safety Transparency” in our search, though, when we clicked it, we were redirected to a Flock Safety page that “doesn’t exist.”