Otero County sheriff calls for Flock education amid public outcry
Digital Assignment Editor
Otero County Sheriff David Black called on Flock to send a company representative to hold a public education session amid public outcry over the company’s license plate readers.
“Some of the stuff they believe the cameras are doing, they’re not,” Black told Otero County commissioners, who had received complaints about the installation of new Flock license plate readers across the city of Chaparral.
“As far as recording facial recognition, recording speech, voices … they’re reading license plates, and that’s it,” Black said.
RELATED: What are Flock cameras? What to know about surveillance cameras being vandalized across the country
Flock is one of the major providers of license plate readers to law enforcement around the country, but the devices have come under increasing scrutiny over privacy concerns.
Taos recently defunded all of its Flock cameras, reallocating the money to other uses.
The Navajo Nation, meanwhile, is adding Flock cameras across its 27,000 square miles.
Navajo police said they hope the cameras will generate leads in missing persons cases and help officers respond to crimes in remote areas.
