Flock Safety camera photo
This car was seen by a Flock Safety camera on North Poplar Street in Elizabethtown on Saturday, July 7. It was reported stolen one day earlier.
Vehicle gets returned to owner within 24 hours
ELIZABETHTOWN — Police Chief Tony Parrish probably had a smile on his face recently when a recently installed Flock Safety camera alerted his officers that a vehicle wanted in connection with an armed carjacking had been seen traveling along North Poplar Street.
The vehicle was seen by the Flock Safety camera on Saturday, July 7, just one day after the carjacking had occurred.
According to information from Flock Safety, officers with the Elizabethtown Police Department were able to use the video from Flock Safety to make an arrest and returned the stolen vehicle to its owner.
“The Flock cameras are just another tool that our officers use on a daily basis to help keep the folks of Elizabethtown safe. So, when you see them out in public, give them a pat on the back for all of their hard work,” Parrish said recently.
With the help of Flock Safety cameras, during the first nine days of July, Elizabethtown police officers have recovered two stolen vehicles, made an arrest on two separate occasions related to an ongoing narcotics investigation (crystal meth) and made an arrest related to a larceny investigation.
How the cameras work
Flock cameras only read license plates as vehicles pass by them and they automatically send an alert to officers for one of two reasons:
— The vehicle has been previously entered into the National Crime Information Center database for any reason, such as stolen vehicle, stolen license plate, wanted person, protection order, sex offender, Amber Alert, or Silver Alert.
— The vehicle has been entered into the Flock system by one of EPD’s officers that may be following up on an investigation and they are attempting to locate the vehicle. In this scenario, the reason for the search must be documented.
The alert will notify the officer of the reason for the alert, date/time, which camera the vehicle drove by, and it will send a picture of the car, the license plate and a map location.
Flock Safety devices are built with ethical guardrails within the product. The cameras do not record speed or utilize facial recognition. The data is never sold or shared with third parties, and is deleted automatically after 30 days on a rolling basis to protect citizens’ privacy.
Flock Safety works with more than 1,200 law enforcement agencies across the country to solve hundreds of crimes every day.
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-862-4163 or [email protected].