Gardner police discontinue Flock cameras as license plate readers face scrutiny

Gardner police discontinue Flock cameras as license plate readers face scrutinyDigital Content ProducerGARDNER, Kan. —A Johnson County, Kansas, community is discontinuing its Flock Safety license plate cameras and canceling its contract as privacy and data-access concerns grow. Gardner, Kansas, is pulling the plug on the cameras. The Gardner City Council agreed Monday night to immediately turn off the city's Flock cameras and not renew its contract for the automated license plate-reading system.By Tuesday, some cameras were covered to prevent recording.The Gardner Police Department confirmed it discontinued all Flock cameras and notified the provider that the contract was canceled."The decision reflects an ongoing evaluation of technology and resources to ensure the Police Department is using tools that provide the utmost value to the community and support its public safety operations," the city said in a statement.The decision comes as automated license plate readers face growing scrutiny over privacy and how the collected information can be accessed and shared.The cameras photograph license plates and help law enforcement locate vehicles connected to crimes or missing-person cases. Police in Blue Springs recently credited the technology with locating a suspect in an Amber Alert case.Critics have raised concerns that networks of license plate readers create detailed records of people's movements, including trips to homes, workplaces, and places of worship.Bradley Steinmetz, with the No Flock in Gardner movement, questioned how broadly information collected through the system could be accessed."Over 1,200 vendors had access to our information through the Flock system," Steinmetz said, adding he did not know the identities of all those entities.Gardner City Council member Kelly Johnson said the council's action only applies to cameras controlled by the city."Gardner can make decisions about the cameras and contract that belong to Gardner," Johnson said in a Facebook statement. "We cannot, however, turn off cameras that are owned and operated by Johnson County or the State."Johnson said the city would look into what options it may have involving cameras operated by other jurisdictions in and around Gardner.Flock has also announced changes to its system amid the broader privacy debate.The company says it will reduce its data retention period from 30 days to seven days and require a criminal case number for database searches.