The City of Charlottesville has installed 10 automated license plate reader cameras at intersections throughout the city, but never fear, city leaders say it’s not actually Big Brother watching your every move, even if it feels like it.
A press release from the city announcing the activation of the Flock Safety program, in conjunction with the Charlottesville Police Department, relates that the program “is an extremely useful tool in helping us locate missing, endangered, and wanted individuals.”
“In the event that stolen or flagged vehicles (Amber Alert, Wanted Vehicles, etc.) enter the City of Charlottesville, CPD will receive real-time alerts, notifying our officers, allowing us to deter and mitigate crime within our city. The sole purpose of Flock is to keep our Charlottesville community safe.”
The release also noted that the executive director of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, Inez Gonzalez, will be able to conduct random audits of the Flock system at her discretion, and that the CPD’s Professional Standards Division will be responsible for providing a monthly audit.
The city has set up a Transparency Portal on the city website so you can see the policies set in place to protect the privacy of citizens.
For any inquiries regarding the Flock system, email [email protected].
More caveats from the city noted in the presser:
- Data captured by the Flock system will not be constantly monitored. The still-frame images captured are strictly for official law enforcement purposes only.
- In most cases, captured data will go unreviewed and will be automatically deleted in seven days.
- Still-frame images captured will be restricted to law enforcement purposes only and will not be used for facial recognition, personal identification or traffic enforcement.
- All data collected by the system will remain strictly confidential.
- Anyone who unlawfully abuses their privileges will be reported to the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and considered for prosecution.
The current locations of the cameras:
- Emmet St. N @ Barracks Rd
- U.S. 250 Bypass @ Rugby Rd
- Long St. @ Free Bridge
- Monticello Ave @ Druid Ave
- Roosevelt Brown Blvd @ Cherry Ave
- W. Main St. @ 10th St
- University Ave. @ 14th St
- Cherry Ave. @ Ridge St
- Ridge McIntire Rd. @ Preston Ave
- Preston Ave. @ Grady Ave
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Chris Graham
