Who has access to the Lexington Police Department’s Flock surveillance cameras?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- All Lexington officers, investigators and RTIC analysts have Flock access.
- Policy restricts use to law enforcement; quarterly audits plus PIU sampling.
- Private Flock partners can share data with police but can't access police database.
The Lexington Police Department says its system of Flock Safety license plate-reading cameras are an integral investigative tool, aiding in solving crime and finding missing people, but they have also raised privacy concerns, especially in the wake of a controversial Ring Super Bowl commercial.
The cameras capture multiple images of a vehicle’s license plate along Lexington roads. The photos are then run through law enforcement databases to see if the vehicle is stolen, associated with a warrant or has any other alert.
If the check comes back clean, the images are deleted from the Flock system after a certain amount of time, Lexington police said, and the cameras are not used for speed or red-light enforcement.
Recently, a Flock camera alerted police to a vehicle connected to felony warrants out of North Carolina. Officers attempted to pull over the vehicle, operated by Brooks Plemmons, 40, and police ultimately shot Plemmons, who later died at a hospital. Kentucky State Police is investigating the shooting.
Flock and Ring mutually ended their partnership after a controversial Super Bowl ad earlier this month. According to the Associated Press, the 30-second commercial featured a lost dog found through a system of cameras.
The ad raised widespread privacy concerns of the availability of footage obtained from surveillance systems, such as Flock. The feature highlighted in the commercial was not related to Flock, but Ring and Flock decided to end their partnership in what was described as a “joint decision.”
“Following a comprehensive review, we determined the planned Flock Safety integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated,” Ring’s statement said, according to the AP. “The integration never launched, so no Ring customer videos were ever sent to Flock Safety.”
Flock and Lexington police’s partnership began in the spring of 2022 with a one-year pilot study of 25 cameras. Lexington currently has 125 license plate-reading cameras throughout Fayette County.
According to police, the cameras are strategically placed by LPD crime analysts and Flock based on crimes reports submitted to police.
Who has access to Lexington police’s Flock cameras
All Lexington police officers, investigators and Real-Time Intelligence Center analysts have access to the department’s Flock database, according to spokesperson Hannah Sloan. All employees with access to the database “undergo training on how to use it, the department’s policy, and expectations for its use” before they are given access,” Sloan said.
The department’s policy says footage collected by the cameras is restricted to law enforcement purposes only. Authorized users are not allowed to use license plate photos to harass someone or for personal purposes.
The database is managed by the department’s special investigations section lieutenant, also known as the Flock administrator, according to the policy. The administrator is responsible for conducting quarterly audits to ensure it is being used appropriately.
Sloan said the audits have not turned up any issues.
The department’s Public Integrity Unit also reviews a “sampling” of the prior quarterly audit to ensure the policy is being followed.
Can other law enforcement agencies access LPD’s flock database?
Police may share images obtained from its Flock cameras upon requests from other law enforcement agencies. The policy says requests are sent to the on-shift duty commander, who will determine whether to share the requested data.
If a request is approved, the duty commander will ask the on-call intelligence unit detective for entry into the database. Those searches are also reviewable by the administrator.
“Per policy, the department shares Flock data only with law enforcement agencies for legitimate investigative purposes,” Sloan said.
Non-law enforcement agencies, such as homeowners’ associations or businesses with a Flock partnership, do not have access to police’s Flock database, Sloan said.
Flock spokesperson Holly Beilin said private entities can share data with law enforcement but can’t access data from law enforcement.
What access does Flock have to LPD’s database
Beilin said Flock never sells customer data and can’t do so with third parties. Flock employees can’t access a customer’s database unless requested for a certain service, such as troubleshooting an issue.
“Flock never sells customer data and cannot share it with third parties unless expressly directed to by the customer,” Beilin said, adding Flock employee actions are also subject to audits.
Sloan said the department has not received any complaints about its Flock cameras since Ring’s Super Bowl commercial.
