DODGE CITY — The town of Dodge City discussed adding new security cameras in strategic locations which could help law enforcement more quickly identify and prevent criminal activity.

Councilmember Chayton Grimmett first introduced the idea of having the town purchase several Automatic License Plate Reader cameras from Flock Safety in December and presented the council with more extensive information about the service Thursday, Jan. 9.

Flock Safety describes its network of AI-powered cameras as “a holistic solution to crime.” Its cameras create what it describes as a “Vehicle Fingerprint” and collect the following data:

— License plate image.

— Vehicle image.

— Vehicle characteristics.

— License Plate number.

— Date.

— Time.

— Location.

This information is added to Flock’s cloud-based databank and may be accessed by Flock customers — which includes more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies, homeowners associations and private businesses — for up to 30 days. Any vehicle’s suspected to have been involved in a crime are added to a “hot list” which includes real-time notifications being sent to law enforcement.

Grimmett, who also serves as a Patrol Sergeant for the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, said deputies are able to receive alerts within less than a minute of a vehicle being identified. He believed this would allow local officials to more quickly apprehend suspects such as the ones involved in an armed robbery of the Dodge City branch of Traditions Bank in September.

“With this Flock system, we [law enforcement] can put the type of vehicle we see in the footage and follow them where they go because there’s cameras all up and down I-65 in different counties. It creates a big trail of where they go,” Grimmett said.

Flock CEO Garrett Langley has estimated the cameras have helped local law enforcement solve “about 2,200 crimes a day,” during company events. However, the company has drawn scrutiny from organizations advocating for privacy rights. The American Civil Liberties Union published a white paper in 2022 which criticized the companies large-scale data-sharing model and warned of its potential abuses.

“The risk of abuse by government is all too real. Unfortunately, this country has a long tradition, extending up to the present, of law enforcement targeting people not because they’re suspected of a criminal activity but because of their political or religious beliefs or race. That includes quasi-private surveillance,” the paper said.

Langley has also estimated roughly 70 percent of the U.S. population is covered by Flock camera’s. The ACLU raised concerns for the potential of privacy violations based on past incidents with similar cloud-sharing services.

“We’ve already had a glimpse of what can go wrong with cloud surveillance providers in the case of the company Verkada, which was hacked and found to be secretly tapping into its customers’ cameras. Indeed, think what present or future leaders or employees at Flock could do with that power — or what they could be pressured or forced into doing by unscrupulous government officials. We know that Ring gave workers access to every Ring camera in the world, together with customer details. Other companies offering cloud services have also run into controversy from granting such access, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and Facebook. Those companies accessed people’s data to improve their AI models, which are always hungry for real-world data. Flock likewise says that its cloud architecture “allows us to continue to improve the software and deploy enhancements out to our cameras in real-time,'” the white paper said.

Grimmett said the CCSO currently has one Flock camera located on County Road 490 inside Dodge City and is in the process of installing a second. If the town were to purchase any additional cameras, each one would cost $3,000 annually and include a one-time installation fee of $150.

Council members decided to table the conversation until members could discuss the possibility of partnering with local businesses to share the annual cost.

In other business the council:

— Approved its annual sever weather preparedness tax holiday which will take place during the last full weekend in February.

— Approved an anti-human trafficking proclamation.

— Approved to leave compensation for the its members and mayor to remain unchanged following Alabama’s municipal elections in November.

— Vetoed the possibility of holding a Dodge City Day celebration in 2025.

Patrick Camp can be reached at 256-734-2131 ext. 238.