Several members of the public attended the Tecumseh City Council meeting Monday night, as well as Johnson County Sheriff Lynn Lyon and Chief Deputy Pat Beck. The subject of concern seemed to be the use of the Flock Camera System, which captures the attributes of the vehicles that pass by them.
Kevin Kramer of Crab Orchard wants the city to consider changing their decision to use the Flock system. He stressed that he understands that these cameras are a tool law enforcement officers can use for good, but it is still an invasion of privacy. Misuse of Flock cameras by law enforcement officers was another of his concerns. “Using Flock cameras to collect data is unconstitutional,” he said. “Our freedoms and liberties are more important.”
Sheriff Lyon read a letter from Robert Hutt, a Tecumseh native who has worked closely with law enforcement and was unable to attend the meeting. Hutt wrote, in part:
“In my work with a former employer, I relied on automated license place readers (ALPRs) during high-stakes investigations. I have worked cases where hands-on sex offenders put children in immediate physical danger – and those children were brought to safety quickly because ALPR data gave law enforcement the exact location lead they needed in real time.
“Part of the issue is that national media paints these systems as invasive tracking tools, which simply isn’t how Tecumseh’s Flock cameras work."
Focus on vehicle attributes: The cameras are angled to capture vehicle attributes – plate numbers, make, model, color, and distinct features like a dent or bumper sticker.
“No traffic or speed enforcement: Flock cameras do not measure speed or issue automated traffic tickets.
“Automatic 30-day purge: Over 99% of scanned plates never match a stolen car or a warrant. That data automatically deletes after 30 days. It is not compiled into a permanent dossier on local citizens.
“Search accountability and audit trails: System users cannot browse the system out of curiosity. Every query requires a specific reason or active case number, creating an unalterable audit trail of who accessed the data and why.
“From a constitutional standpoint, courts across the country have repeatedly affirmed under the the Fourth Amendment that there is no expectation of privacy for a state-issued license plate displayed on a public road. Mass surveillance implies building files on peaceful citizens. Flock cameras do the opposite – they act as passive filters checking passing traffic against official law enforcement hotlists for stolen vehicles, felony warrants, or Amber Alerts.”
Sheriff Lyon provided specific instances of how the Flock cameras in Tecumseh have led to law enforcement successes. A missing person case was solved when the Flock cameras spotted a vehicle that had been placed on a hotlist and alerted the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department. This led to communication with the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department, which was able to stop the vehicle and recover the missing person. The person responsible for the so-called “BBQ Bomb” in the parking area of the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution was located by Flock cameras in Montana. The person responsible for a car-jacking at the U-Stop in Tecumseh was caught in Oklahoma hours later because of a Flock camera. The perpetrator of a road rage incident at the Jet Stop in Sterling was caught because information was entered into the Flock system and, minutes later, the cameras in Tecumseh spotted the vehicle.
“We can’t make an arrest just on Flock,” Lyon emphasized. “We can make a stop, but we can’t make an arrest without other information. Our cameras automatically drop the data after 30 days.”
Tecumseh Mayor Jesse Grof thanked all who spoke for their input. The council did not comment nor take a vote on the issue.
