Council weighs pros and cons of Flock cameras
When the Beacon City Council asked its attorney on Monday (Oct. 19) to research escape clauses in the city’s contract with the Flock Group, which makes license-plate readers, the request seemed more about keeping options open than closing them.
The discussion came three weeks after the Dutchess district attorney and sheriff said the county should remove its 65 Flock readers, and a week after county legislators voted to cover any camera still in place on Nov. 1. However, the five (of seven) City Council members present on Monday seemed to lean toward keeping Beacon’s seven cameras operational.
The Flock system analyzes photos of passing vehicles, records their plate numbers and categorizes them by make and model, color and any damage. Law-enforcement agencies can search the system’s database to locate stolen vehicles, criminal suspects and missing persons.
The technology has drawn nationwide criticism, and Beacon residents have argued that the devices amount to unauthorized surveillance. Chief Tom Figlia said during the Sept. 21 meeting that license-plate readers have helped police solve crimes or arrest suspects in more than two dozen incidents, including assaults, a shooting and hit-and-runs involving bicyclists and vehicles. In several cases, he said, Flock data helped the department locate suicidal individuals who were taken to mental health facilities.
On Monday, Council Member Sergei Krasikov suggested that the cameras are far less intrusive than the “full-on surveillance state” in Belarus, then part of the Soviet Union, where he grew up. There, government officials use facial-recognition cameras and social media tracking to create “a digital footprint of how you move through life,” he said.
Krasikov said he respects the concerns expressed by residents but also trusts Figlia, who has assured the council that the images belong to the Beacon police, which does not sell them, and that the cameras do not record drivers’ faces, race, gender or other identifying features.
Earlier this year, the Beacon department withdrew from the national Flock network, downsizing the number of other agencies that can access the data it collects from thousands to about 400, each approved by Figlia.
Krasikov noted other intrusions “that we don’t take as seriously,” such as location-tracking cellphone apps and parking lot cameras that “actually show your final destination.” The public interest in digital privacy is well-founded, he said, but in this case “I feel like [Flock cameras] are a benefit, not a threat, to our community.”
Comments by other council members reflected similar sentiments: distrust of Flock but confidence in Figlia.
Mayor Lee Kyriacou said Poughkeepsie officials recently told him that license-plate readers have helped prosecute gang-violence suspects. “I want to be supportive of those who feel like their safety is improved by this,” he said.
Krasikov and Kyriacou both questioned the county’s move to remove its Flock cameras, which came after a public forum in Pleasant Valley. Krasikov said it seemed like the officials made “a political decision, not a decision based on what’s best for solving crimes,” while Kyriacou said the decision was based on “a very vague rationale.”
“We live in a society where, right now, all of our information is of uncertain legitimacy,” Kyriacou said. “I feel obliged to actually put facts in front of the table.”
City Attorney Nick Ward-Willis said he would bring more information about the city’s contract with Flock to the Nov. 2 meeting.
