While controversy over Flock license plate cameras has grown amid mounting privacy fears, San Joaquin County’s sheriff is publicly praising the technology.
The automated license plate readers are “the best tool we have in law enforcement,” and calls to get rid of them out of worries over public surveillance are “crap,” Sheriff Patrick Withrow said in his monthly address, shared online.
Withrow called the ALPRs “amazing” at helping solve crimes and said they are one reason the county has had a recent 20% drop in property crimes.
The sheriff’s endorsement follows Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden’s backing of the cameras earlier this year. He told the City Council during the summer that the Flock system is a “force multiplier” that has helped detectives solve robberies, carjackings and other violent crimes.
Yet McFadden admitted to the council last month that one employee in his department was fired in August after an internal investigation substantiated a report of abuse of the system. Vice Mayor Jason Lee said he had received a report that the employee was an officer accused of stalking his girlfriend. Authorities have not publicly identified the person.
USA Today found that at least 19 law enforcement employees in five states have been arrested, fired, put on administrative leave or are under investigation following its investigative reports into abuse of the Flock system.
Reporters showed that agency employees were tapping into the system repeatedly in patterns that raised suspicions the searches were personal, rather than part of criminal investigations. The news organization pinpointed potential abuses using information that Flock made available publicly but has since removed.
Some police agencies around the country have been pulling the plug on their Flock systems amid revelations the technology has been misused. Even politicians in some Republican-dominated states known for their tough-on-crime messaging are pulling back on the cameras.
The changes have left Flock in a precarious position. Amid the growing backlash, the company announced a voluntary separation program in September, offering a “generous” severance package to those who wanted to leave, Wired magazine first reported. Last week, Flock said job cuts would follow, announcing plans to shed about 18% of its 1,500 employees.
Locally, plans remain in place to continue use of the ALPRs. The Stockton City Council voted unanimously in March to spend $3.2 million to expand its relationship with Flock to include drones, despite hearing extensive concerns from residents worried about the potential for abuse of the technology.
As of July, Stockton had 120 Flock cameras mounted on poles along key roads around the city. The license plate readers, made by Atlanta-based Flock Safety, use cameras combined with artificial intelligence to relay license plate and vehicle description information to law enforcement.
Withrow said during his monthly video update that personnel in his office “don’t have time” to waste abusing the system. “If we have somebody on our department that breaks the trust and tries to misuse those things, they’ll be a price to pay, up to losing their job.”
The Flock readers are credited with helping identify three suspects in the killing of Avtar Singh, 57, who was abducted Feb. 17 from the Gurdwara Gur Nanak Parkash temple near Tracy and later found dead at Lake Berryessa in Napa County. The cameras were instrumental in helping investigators find the SUV used in the abduction, Withrow said last month.
The Sheriff’s Office also said it had video showing three men taking Singh in what is believed to be a case of mistaken identity. Investigators say the Sikh man the trio intended to kill was actually in Canada. A $50,000 reward is being offered in the arrests of the three suspects — Alberto Alencastro, 25; Alfonso Segura, 20; and Barnabe Segura, 22.