On March 3, the New Port Richey city council discussed the planned introduction of automated license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras as part of the city’s school safety and red-light camera programs. The council also proposed guidelines to govern their use. This comes after council member Bertell Butler IV expressed concern about the storage of data taken from the Flock cameras, which scan and record license plates of vehicles that pass through monitored areas.
The city had approved entering into an agreement with the ALPR vendor earlier this year, but had not yet drafted an official policy for the cameras’ use. “It’s a matter of, we as a council , and that was our mistake , approved the entering of an agreement and the use of a technology that we have not at all regulated or provided standards for,” Butler said. The Criminal and Juvenile Justice Information Systems Council and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement recommend that law enforcement agencies implement a policy that regulates the use of automated license plate readers, which New Port Richey Chief Robert Kochen said would occur before the cameras become operational.
A sign on a pole in Spring Hill tells passing drivers to say no to “Flock” cameras, which are license plate reading cameras. The city council will get the final say on the policy for Flock cameras.
Originally reported by Suncoast News – New Port Richey
Sources: Suncoast News – New Port Richey
