Springfield PD defend Flock cameras as city considers ban over privacy concerns

Flock cameras are becoming more and more popular as they're purchased and installed around the country, but there are concerns over privacy. The city council is currently considering an ordinance that would ban the use of automatic license plate readers in Springfield. Today, the Springfield Police Department held a demonstration to give us a better understanding on what the cameras do, but more importantly, what they cannot do. The productivity that we have received since we got these is through the roof. Flock cameras are all over the country, including Springfield, with 25 of them owned by the Springfield Police Department. But people have a lot of concerns, including privacy. The Springfield City Council reviewing a proposed ordinance that would ban the city's flock cameras. But in reality, the technology is not new to the city of Springfield. Automated license plate readers began being utilized in the city back in 2010. It was only in 2023 that the department began using flock cameras, and they say they are helping their investigations get solved quicker, especially when it came to homicides in 2025. Of all the murders that involved a vehicle, the Flock technology was able to assist considerably with all of those investigations. The way they work is they take pictures, not videos, of the back of a car passing by. It's two pictures to be exact, one of the car and another of just the license plate, as well as the location where it was taken. No other information about who owns the car or who was driving is provided, just the photos. And nothing happens to them unless the license plate is searched in the system. There's a lot of restriction as far as who can access it. It's not like people out on the streets and their cruisers can just run plates in this all day. It's the people who are doing the investigative work behind the scenes. In order to make a search, the system requires an offense type, a case number, and a reason. Access to the pictures is restricted, Springfield Police only sharing with New England states and New York. That means ICE and Immigration Enforcement investigators cannot access the Springfield Police Department's network of cameras. And after 30 days, all photos are erased unless they're part of an investigation.