Police and vendor brief council on license‑plate readers, citing cases and safeguards

Police and their vendor Flock gave an extended briefing on automated license plate readers (LPRs). Carrie McCormack of Flock described the technology as a tool to identify vehicles tied to crimes or missing persons and said the company works with law enforcement to provide precision and efficiency. She explained the two primary functions — proactive alerts and retroactive searches — and stressed that "there's no facial recognition or any personally identifiable private information captured by the cameras," adding the system captures a photo of a vehicle and associated metadata.

Police detailed local case studies where LPR data supported investigations, including locating stolen vehicles, linking suspects to crimes, and finding missing persons. The department reported it currently operates six LPR cameras with county sharing and pays roughly $3,000 per camera per year for a managed service that includes maintenance and connectivity. Council members asked about retention windows, sharing with private cameras and federal access; Flock staff noted a company default retention of 30 days (local setting) and that the new Kentucky statute KRS 189.632 sets a 90‑day maximum, with agencies retaining control over sharing relationships. Flock described auditing tools and proactive audit assistance designed to flag unusual search behavior and said misuse has been rare and typically identified through audit trails and agency discipline.