stLouISTFor more than a decade, automated license plate readers have been a mainstay of big-city police departments, including St. Louis’ Real Time Crime Center. But Flock Safety’s Falcon are less expensive and more advanced, making them accessible now to more civilians and suburban departments.
The company has competitors, including Genetec and Motorola’s Vigilant solutions, but around St. Louis, Flock appears to be the fastest growing. The startup says it gained 75 local Missouri customers over the past few years, including 22 police agencies.
Civilian users include cities, businesses, community improvement districts and neighborhood home owners associations that typically share the data with their local police, said Flock spokeswoman Holly Beilin.
Information collected can also be shared across sometimes hundreds of police agencies.
”The power of Flock somewhat lies in the network,” Beilin said.
Local communities where police use Flock include Ballwin, Brentwood, Bridgeton, Des Peres, Eureka, St. Ann, St. Charles and many others, according to city records.
While the expansion of smart-reader technology has St. Louis area police rattling off lists of cases solved, it also draws criticism from civil liberties advocates. Critics worry the databases Falcon cameras create of each passing car are invasive and ripe for abuse by police and private entities with access.
“Law enforcement will always cite stories where the tool saves the day, but I think that as citizens we have to go beyond the question: Will this ever solve crimes?” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union who wrote a paper published in March on the spread of Flock Safety. “There’s no question that if you record everyone all the time you could solve more crimes. We could solve crimes if you let the government put cameras in everybody’s bedrooms, but we’re not willing to go there. Are we willing to let cameras change the nature of our public spaces?”
Flock isn’t subtle in marketing its ambitions. The company aims to have Flock cameras in every city in the U.S.
”We started Flock Safety with a simple mission,” the company’s website reads. “Eliminate crime.”
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