ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Some community members are expressing concerns about the network of automated license plate readers, known as Flock cameras, in the Rochester region.
Flock cameras photograph the back of passing cars, recording license plates, make, model, color, and unique features like bumper stickers or scratches. The goal is to help police agencies find cars used in crimes, but some are concerned about privacy for drivers not involved in crimes.
The cameras have created a buzz on Rochester’s Reddit page, with mixed opinions. There are nearly 200 license plate cameras in the region, and about 30% of those are Flock cameras, according to the website Deflock, which maps their locations. News10NBC’s Garrett Chan spoke with a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology about people’s concerns.
New privacy changes
Last month, Flock announced privacy and security changes to prevent law enforcement from misusing the data or hackers from accessing it. The company also reduced how long it retains people’s movement data from 30 days to seven days and added an “audit assistance” system that locks out a user if their searches display “abnormal activity.”
Ashique Khudabukhsh, an RIT Assistant Professor of Software Engineering, said that with any surveillance technology, learning to safeguard people’s information while protecting them comes with growing pains.
“I work in AI safety for large language models. Whenever a new large language model appears, we see that it has some very interesting new feature or new capability, but at the same time, it might have some unforeseen risks,” Khudabukhsh said. “So the key is to have more oversight around these technologies so that we know how to use them safely and we know what are some of the blind spots that bad actors can leverage.”
Flock said installing these cameras is either done by them, or they work with subcontractors and municipalities. Some companies like Home Depot and Lowe’s use Flock cameras in their parking lots.
Not all cameras work the same
Not all license plate cameras are created and used the same way. Khudabukhsh said differences may not be easily seen.
“The underlying technology will be roughly the same. I mean, they will have all these ALPR systems will have some form of computer vision, some form of optical character recognition, and other AI-assisted technologies to infer the make and model of the car. What makes the key difference is the scale and the fact that you can have cross-jurisdictional searches and all those kinds of things,” Khudabukhsh said.
How local police agencies use the cameras
News10NBC has reported on several cases of local police agencies using license plate readers to make arrests and identify stolen cars. The Greece Police Department says car thefts have gone down significantly since it began using license plate readers, mounted to power poles or traffic lights, for its investigations.
Last year, the Monroe County Legislature voted to install license plate reader cameras at 50 locations for the sheriff’s office to use. The sheriff’s office told News10NBC in September that the camera installation is in its initial phase and it has received the equipment.
Rochester Police told News10NBC it has no partnership with Flock. Irondequoit Police also said it doesn’t use them, and using those cameras would require a request to the sheriff’s office and the Regional Investigative Operations Center.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office told News10NBC it wouldn’t be able to speak further on the matter until it presents its findings to the county legislature. Flock Safety currently operates more than 100,000 license plate readers across 49 states.
Expert weighs in on privacy concerns over license plate reader cameras, used by some local agencies WHEC.com.
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