KOAM reports this evening that the Seneca Police Department will no longer be using Flock cameras.From KOAM:
Beyond the technical and customer service issues, Chief (James) Altic expressed concerns about reports of camera misuse throughout the country. These reports reinforced his decision to discontinue the program.
"There will have to be some legislation passed," he said. "There should have to be some better guidelines down the road. We do not want to be put in a position where there could possibly be anybody in the area that could get these cameras compromised."
The use of the Flock cameras has come under fire in many communities across the country, including Joplin, where a police officer was fired in January for allegedly misusing the license reading device.
That investigation, which included public information requests to both the city and other government organizations, indicates the scope of the problems that face the City of Joplin and the Police Department.
These include a possible major lawsuit from at least one person who appears to have been stalked by the officer in question, with an apparent 395 license plate checks over a 14-month period that were labeled as "investigation."
(Screenshot from Flock Safety web page)
5 comments:
Kudos to the Chief!! Looking at you, Joplin!
GET THE FLOCK OUT!
Does this mean that anyone caught with the Flock Cameras should seek a retrial or expunging any and all information that was garnered by any and all state agencies. If you were compromised by this information - should we have the right to these secret files and recordings?
No your rights don’t matter
A couple of thoughts here:
1. Guarantee got poor service from flock because the value of their contract (for two cameras!) is small potatoes
2. I am not a lawyer (I'm actually a dog--on the internet, nobody knows you're a dog), but no, this should not mean that any evidence the cameras collected will suddenly become inadmissible, and whats more, Flock will still have all the data they were able to collect from Seneca over the last year.
3. The KOAM article really misquoted the chief, making him sound like an idiot. If you listen to the video he has a good handle on the situation (good video on the subject about how many of these cameras are vulnerable as all-get-out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB0gr7Fh6lY)
4. Chief has made a smart call avoiding the potential for outsized PR problems. Good for him, and good for the City of Seneca!
5. It's not just municipalities you have to worry about installing these, Lowe's hardware has a standing contract with the company.
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