3 RI Police Departments Announce New Camera Technology, ACLU Says Installation Is “Disturbing”

3 RI Police Departments Announce New Camera Technology, ACLU Says Installation Is “Disturbing”

The Cranston, Pawtucket, and Woonsocket Police Departments jointly announced Wednesday that they have partnered with tech company Flock Safety, to install security monitoring cameras.

The three cities will begin a sixty-day pilot program using Flock's automated license plate reading (ALPR) cameras in strategic areas around their cities to pursue proactive and reactive crime-fighting.

Cranston has installed 29 Flock Safety cameras, Pawtucket 17, and Woonsocket 13. All of these cameras are on city-owned property. These cameras will soon be fully activated and monitored. Flock Safety ALPR cameras will help law enforcement investigate crime by providing objective evidence.

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The technology captures still photographs of license plates and vehicle characteristics as they travel on public roads. The cameras do not independently record people or faces. They will be used to solve and reduce violent and property crime. The cameras will never be used for traffic enforcement, as they cannot track speed or identify unregistered or uninsured vehicles.

But while the police chiefs are championing the new technology, RI ACLU is criticizing the implementation of the initiative.

“The installation of surveillance tools that directly impact the privacy of Rhode Island residents and others driving through the communities where they are installed is disturbing in itself. But the clandestine nature by which the cameras were placed, and the failure of the three cities in which the trial implementation of this tool is known to be happening to seek any advance public input, only make this action more concerning,” said the ACLU in a statement.

But, the chiefs said that the cameras could be a critical tool, “to proactively prevent crime from occurring, the cameras will send a real-time alert to law enforcement when a stolen car or known wanted suspect from a state, or national crime database enters the jurisdiction. They can also send real-time alerts for vehicles associated with missing persons or when an AMBER or Silver Alert is detected. When a plate is captured, the system does not immediately provide vehicle owner information. License plates identified as potentially being associated with criminal activity must be verified through a manual inquiry by an Officer or Dispatcher. “

 

ACLU Says Not a Police Decision

“These are not decisions that should be unilaterally made by law enforcement agencies. Members of the public should have a say as to whether they support these potentially invasive technologies in their community – before, not after, they are installed. Further, the implication that only those residents who have committed crimes need to worry about these technologies is inappropriately dismissive of the secrecy with which these programs commenced and the persistent invasion of privacy that these cameras can pose to everyone,” added the ACLU.

“Marketing material on Flock Safety’s website promotes the ability that this technology has to enable searches not only by license plate number, but by identifying vehicle attributes like the color or make of the car. The public shouldn’t be deluded into thinking that these cameras act solely as ‘license plate reader’ devices when they, in fact, track and store much more detailed information than license plate numbers. The capability that these cameras have to indiscriminately track when and where drivers go can create an oppressive system of government surveillance in a free society,” added the ACLU.