Palm Bay covers FLOCK cameras after suspension due to permits

Suspended but still standing. Palm Bay is taking aim at those flock license plate readers. Thanks for joining us tonight. I'm Luanne Sorrell and I'm Garrett Weimer and you may remember last week we told you the city decided to turn off the cameras over permitting issues but some residents there want to see them gone for good. Fox 35's Esther Bauer joins us live tonight and Esther this all comes down to privacy. Garrett that is one of the biggest concerns for people that have been going to city council meetings now for more than a year demanding the city council turn off these cameras. So what's new since Friday you can actually see city staff has come out here and put a bag over the readers so people are fully aware they are no longer tracking people but some residents want them totally taken down. But there's a bigger issue here at the flock system in Palm Bay has gone dark with black bags now covering the license plate readers. The city turned them off on Friday because they were installed improperly and not with the proper permits but permits aren't the problem for some people who want the technology gone. It does have a slippery slope there's there's potential for misuse. Citizens should have a presumption of innocence which is not consistent with a network of cameras that are set up throughout their city. I've done nothing wrong I'm a law-abiding citizen yet for some reason pictures of my car and my license plate are being held on a database. Back in May the public voiced concerns to the city council about the flock system while the police praised them. It's really taken crime fighting to a whole new level. The police chief says the readers help track criminals and have solved several cases. Helping with our response time wise on how we're solving these crimes and how fast we're doing so. On Monday a city spokesperson told Fox 35 the permitting problem review is happening this week. They also shared the contract the city currently has with flock. Now we know Palm Bay police first started the systems back in 2021 and it was supposed to run for 60 months before the contract renewed. It cost the city $42,000 to install 17 cameras across the city and we're still working to confirm if any tax dollars will be on the line if the city suspends the program because of the permit problem. And Palm Bay PD tell us they were the first law enforcement agency to actually bring this system to the county. The police also say it helps with more than just criminal cases it also helps with missing people and runaways.