There seems to be much anxiety in Albany, and around the country, about Flock Safety and other automated cameras that record license plate numbers. What’s the reason for this sudden angst?
Citing privacy and constitutional concerns, the majority of the Albany City Council voted Wednesday to terminate the city’s contract with Flock Safety for license plate readers.
The Albany City Council wants to hear from people about the use of Flock license plate readers before deciding whether to allow the police department to use the cameras.
Early on Saturday morning, an Oregon law enforcement agency searched the data of Albany’s lone police surveillance camera for a shoplifting investigation.
So far the Albany police have only one automated license plate reader made by the Flock company, but it has come up with at least one interesting statistic about traffic on the Ellsworth Street Bridge.
If you’ve driven across the Ellsworth Street Bridge lately — and who in Albany hasn’t? — chances are a photo of your vehicle and plate number was recorded and stored for 30 days.
Council wants plate-reader warning signs
Last February Albany barred the city police from using automated license plate readers of the Flock Safety company. Now the city council wants to warn the public that there are privately operated cameras of this type.
Tags: Flock cameras, Flock Safety, license plate readers