Saturday, December 14, 2024
Within the past few weeks, Flock Safety cameras have been a subject of concern among local residents and county officials due to privacy concerns.
The discussion first began during a Hood County Commissioners Court meeting Oct. 8, when the court voted to apply for the Senate Bill 224 Catalytic Converter Grant Program — a grant that will ultimately fund the installation of Flock Safety surveillance cameras along key highways and intersections.
While the agenda item initially passed 4:1 Oct. 8, it was brought back to court Oct. 22 by Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle as he wanted to revisit the discussion due to growing concerns over privacy.
After a lengthy discussion — and with several residents coming forward to voice their own concerns —Eagle made a motion Oct. 22 to nullify the last vote and to allow the court more time for research regarding the cameras. However, the motion failed for lack of a second, meaning the initial 4:1 approval from Oct. 8 still stands.
Although the discussion regarding the Flock Safety cameras is over for the time being, Shawn McGuire, emergency communications manager for the Hood County Sheriff’s dispatch center, recently took the time to explain to the Hood County News all about the camera system and its purpose to the public.
According to the Hood County Flock Transparency Portal, the Hood County Sheriff’s Office uses Flock Safety technology to capture objective evidence without compromising on individual privacy. The HCSO utilizes retroactive search to solve crimes after they’ve occurred and uses real time alerting of hotlist vehicles to capture wanted criminals, recover stolen property and find missing people.
McGuire explained that the Flock Safety system allows users to search for vehicles based on various identifiers, such as color, make and model. He shared an example from a few years ago, when a woman was killed in a hit-and-run incident near Oak Trail Shores, and all law enforcement knew was that the vehicle involved was a green pickup truck.
"If we had the camera there, we can search ‘green pickup truck’ and then put the time with it, which would have been great, because I think we searched for that car for like, a year, and finally found it,” he said. “But if we had this stuff here at that time, we could have found it from the beginning.”
With Flock Safety cameras located across the United States, McGuire pointed out the potential benefits in solving serious murder cases. By having the ability to track a vehicle across state lines in real time, he explained that many local cases could have been solved quicker.
“I don't think some people think about that, but that's what this tool is used for," he said.
While the cameras may detect license plates and vehicles, McGuire noted they will not detect facial recognition, gender or race.
“I get that people are worried about us using it for invading their privacy and stuff like that, but when you look at these vehicles, that doesn't mean you’ll be able to see them necessarily,” he said. “I think there's only been, like, maybe one time that it's been a possibility, but even the (vehicles) passing by, you can't see in.”
Some residents have also raised concerns about potential misuse of data from the Flock cameras, but McGuire clarified that the information is strictly used for law enforcement purposes only. He also assured the public that the data is owned by Hood County and is never shared or sold to third parties.
“It’s our data,” he said, adding that data is only retained for 30 days before it is deleted. “It’s weird because when we have investigators look for (a license plate) past the 30-days mark, they can’t find it, and I’m like, ‘Well, 30 days is 30 days.’ It’s not like it stores forever.”
While Granbury Police Department operates 26 Flock cameras, there are only two cameras that the HCSO utilizes: one westbound coming from Cresson off of the Loop and one on the Somervell and Hood County line coming into town.
In the past 30 days, those two cameras have detected 136,083 vehicles. However, law enforcement personnel have only completed 209 searches and 223 “hotlist” searches in that same amount of time — meaning not every vehicle in the county is being monitored in the system.
McGuire acknowledged that many concerns about the cameras stem from fears of privacy violations, but he explained that the system is only used to search for specific vehicles when there is a legitimate reason, such as in the case of a crime or a missing person. Without such a reason, the cameras do not monitor or track individuals indiscriminately.
“We don’t have time to sit here and look at a camera the whole time,” he explained. “I get their concerns, but our job in here and what these guys care about is finding the people who need to be found — and if we find stolen vehicles and guns, that‘s cool, too. When there’s an accident, they will start searching for it, and then if someone messes up, they’re held accountable or it’s given to the appropriate authorities for them to handle.”
To prevent misuse of the Flock Safety system, McGuire explained that there is a strict auditing process where he monitors access to ensure no one is abusing the system, such as by searching for an ex-partner. He added that there are regular audits, including spot-checking search reasons and reviewing logs to track who accessed data and when. McGuire also emphasized that access to sensitive information is restricted and only authorized personnel can view it, with different levels of access for law enforcement, fire and EMS.
“I can see everything, and it's not pretty sometimes, but you can tell when people are abusing the system,” he said. “When it comes to Flock, just because you have access to it doesn't mean you need to know. Don't be looking just because you can — look because you need to."
While license plate recognition (LPR) cameras have been the major focus of concern, McGuire also noted that his goal is to implement live stream cameras to track wrecks around Waters Edge Drive, Harbor Lakes Drive and the H-E-B intersection.
“The live stream cameras will be on all the major intersections, because I want them there for accidents,” he said. “But the LPRs are to find people.”
McGuire added that he also doesn’t want anyone to be afraid of the livestream cameras — especially because the livestream cameras are already in place at various key locations throughout Hood County. Locations include the Law Enforcement Center, Hood County Animal Control, the Hood County Courthouse, the Emergency Operations Center and the Justice Center.
For anyone who is still apprehensive about the Flock cameras, McGuire invites them to come out to the Emergency Operations Center at 400 Deputy Larry Miller Drive to see how the cameras operate in person.
“As long as they can pass the basic background check and have no warrants and no bad criminal histories, they can come up here, because I want more people to see how it actually works,” he said.
McGuire added that the Hood County Commissioners Court will officially apply for the SB224 Catalytic Converter Grant Program Tuesday, Nov. 12, and a decision on the grant is expected in January.
“For us, we’re not using it to invade people’s privacy,” he reiterated. “I get what they're saying, but there's a balance. I want to get people to understand that the only time these things are ever used is when something happens."
