Tallahassee City Commission to Receive Briefing On Controversial Flock Cameras

Editor’s Note: Learn more about who is operating surveillance cameras in Tallahassee (or anywhere!) because it is likely far more pervasive than you realize. Learn more about Flock surveillance.

Tallahassee City Commissioners will be briefed by the police department on the use of license plate reading cameras now stationed throughout the capital city.

A motion brought by City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow passed 5-0 last week after a deputy chief confirmed TPD had entered into a contract with Flock Safety.

“We basically will contract with them so that we have access to that data,” Deputy Chief Jason Laursen said. “That data is used by us for a myriad of different things for solving crimes and things like that in the community.”

Flock cameras, specifically, have been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union. According to the ACLU, the “default agreement” in Massachusetts allowed license plate pictures to be shared with federal agencies, like ICE, for “investigative purposes.”

The cameras do not need to be purchased only by police departments, the company noted in a blog post. Homeowners’ Associations or private businesses can also install the cameras. According to the company, “Flock customers own 100% of their data. This means we will never sell or share public safety data or footage with third parties.”

TPD Chief Lawrence Revells said officers can’t access the database without a valid criminal investigation and compared the technology to that found on toll roads.

“If your loved one was harmed, you want that case solved as quickly as you can possibly get that case solved. And this technology helps us to do that,” Revell said. “It helps us to locate, (if) somebody does a drive-by shooting. We can locate where that car is and where that car’s going much, much faster than we were ever able to in the past.”

Revell also said these cameras were given to TPD for free because they were supposed to be incorporated into the school zone camera system, but because of a quirk in Florida law, they can’t be.

Tallahassee already has live cameras in some areas, like Frenchtown, but those are under the control of TPD. TPD also has its own license plate readers, but it controls whether and when it shares data.

Matlow said TPD has good standards when it comes to its own cameras, but he worries that agencies like ICE would have access to these images.

“What price can you really put on your privacy? You have the right as an American citizen not to be tracked and to be able to free to move around the city and move around the state,” Matlow said. “But, I will say, TPD has a tremendous track record, and we’re proud of our officers for solving the crimes in our community.”

Chief Revell said ICE could get access, but the netowrks also gives TPD access to a large database to solve crimes that occur here.

“They’ve proven incredibly successful in that we had the bank robbery murder on Monroe Street a couple years ago, and we caught that guy within, I think it was three and a half hours in Georgia, all because of the license plate readers and the cameras that we have out,” Revell said.

The motion to bring back an informational agenda item passed 5-0, with all commissioners and the mayor voting in favor. Typically, informational items are brought back at the next commission meeting or the one thereafter, though it can take longer.