After a Missouri town voted unanimously to cancel its contract with Flock in October, the town, like many others who have recently cancelled contracts, went ahead and covered its flock cameras in black trash bags. Not two weeks later, the town’s police department found not only were the cameras still on, but they continued to record vehicles, using infrared technology for the dark trash-bag induced conditions.
Excelsior Springs Police Department took to Facebook on November 5 to inform its residents of the issue. The department’s Lieutenant Ryan Dowdy told Local 12 that the city initially placed bags over the cameras when they voted to end its contract with Flock and remove the cameras. However, not only are the cameras still on, the black garbage bags do not seem to block Flock’s automated license plate reader’s infrared technology. The company touts that tech on its own website as “nighttime performance that doesn’t quit.”
Also problematic is that with a cancelled contract the police department cannot access or use the data but other law enforcement agencies might be able to.
The 15 cameras installed in the town have recorded some vehicles, Dowdy said that most of these images have been headlights and taillights, with a few license plates. The screenshot image shared to Excelsior Springs Police Department’s Facebook page showed a few of the vehicles captured through the garbage bags with the infrared. The third of the semi-hazy images showed a red box over the license plate it captured.
Double-bag it, please
About a month ago, the police department held an informative session with the people of Excelsior Springs to explain Flock’s ALPR technology to citizens. Community concerns still prevailed in taking down the cameras, as the council voted unanimously a couple of weeks later to cancel the contract. Although the police department said not using the 15 cameras posted in town will affect its police work, Dowdy said it continues efforts to be honest with area residents.
“You know, we’d rather tell people, be upfront about it,” Dowdy said. “We’re not trying to hide anything. To be honest, we haven’t looked at it until yesterday to even find that it was occurring.”
The city’s solution for now is to double-bag the cameras until they are removed, hopefully some time around the contract’s end at the end of this month. This latest folly is another warning to towns, cities and communities that have gone about covering their cameras with trash bags to double up. Who knows what kind of trash can seep through just the one layer.
