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Residents press White County commissioners to reject Flock license‑plate readers; vendor defends practices
Summary
Dozens of White County residents urged commissioners to reject Flock LPR cameras at a budget hearing, citing Fourth Amendment and data‑retention concerns; the Flock representative defended data‑handling practices and said images purge after 30 days and are stored on AWS GovCloud.
A wide cross‑section of White County residents used the budget public‑comment period to press commissioners to reject a proposal to fund automated license‑plate readers marketed as Flock cameras.
Speakers at the June hearing described a range of privacy concerns — from mass tracking of ordinary travel to the potential for misuse, data breaches, and sales or sharing of location data. Several callers and in‑person commenters invoked the Fourth Amendment and warned that aggregated plate‑data could be repurposed for functions beyond traffic enforcement or stolen‑vehicle recovery. Multiple speakers asked the commission to prioritize hiring deputies over buying vendor systems.
Flock’s local representative, Matt Foster, addressed the court and residents, stating the devices capture still images of license plates (not personally identifiable records), do not perform biometrics or facial recognition, do not sell data, and store images in Amazon Web Services GovCloud with CJIS and SOC‑2 controls. Foster said images are purged after 30 days and access is logged and audited.
Residents disputed the vendor’s assurances. Speakers cited known settlements and litigation in other places, including a recent Toledo, Ohio case in which a misread plate reportedly led to a wrongful detention. Public commenters also raised the possibility of broader industry ties and use of advanced chipsets and AI processing, arguments that contributed to a motion and recorded vote to strip a planned LPR purchase from the county budget.
What residents asked for: Many urged a complete ban or sunset of county LPR systems, removal of any county‑owned units, strict procurement safeguards, or at minimum a pause pending a more detailed legal and policy review. One participant asked whether the county would remove existing county‑operated units; staff clarified that the current action removed an appropriation and that any future purchase would require a separate request.
Quotes that represent the dispute: “Flock with their warrantless surveillance openly violates the Fourth Amendment,” said Lolita Woodhouse during public comment. “They were to offset having to hire new deputies,” Sheriff Page said in opening remarks in favor of LPRs.
Next steps: The full court’s vote to remove the purchase authorization means the sheriff’s office would have to return to the budget committee and the full court for any future LPR procurement. The county will not automatically fund camera purchases as part of this year’s appropriations.
