RED BAY | Questions about privacy, constitutional rights and government oversight were weighed against the potential benefits to law enforcement Monday night as Red Bay residents and city officials spent more than an hour discussing the city’s recently installed Flock Safety license plate reader cameras and the forthcoming policy governing their use.
The Aug. 17 public hearing at Red Bay City Hall drew a packed house of area residents both opposed to and supportive of the cameras, with six speakers opening the meeting before a representative of Flock Safety answered questions from residents and council members.
No final policy governing use of the cameras was adopted Monday. Instead, city officials agreed to continue working on a proposed policy, make it available for public review and give residents another opportunity to comment before it is considered for adoption.
Much of the opposition centered not on whether the cameras could help solve crimes, but on how information collected by them could be used now or in the future.
Corey Oaks, who said he served eight years in the U.S. Navy, questioned whether widespread use of automatic license plate readers could infringe on Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. He also raised concerns about oversight of the system and its cost to taxpayers.
“I’m not arguing that these cameras cannot do great things,” Oaks said, but he questioned whether sufficient rules and safeguards had been established to govern their use.
Ed Massey, a relatively new Red Bay resident who moved to the area from Huntsville, said he and his wife deliberately sought a smaller community where they felt there would be less government intrusion.
Massey, who said he has worked in aerospace for 44 years, focused much of his criticism on data security and information sharing. He questioned whether Red Bay could truly control information once it had been accessed by another agency and argued that even highly secure government systems have suffered data breaches.
“Does Mayberry need surveillance by its government?” Massey asked, referring to the couple’s impression of Red Bay when they chose to move there.
His wife, Mollianne Massey, said the couple spent years researching communities before choosing Red Bay and said she was disappointed to learn the cameras had been installed. She also criticized the city’s handling of a public records request she submitted seeking the city’s Flock contract, saying the documents she initially received were not the contract she had requested.
“Who’s going to watch the watchers?” she asked.
Red Bay High School student Mikayela Jackson approached the issue from another constitutional perspective, saying she was concerned about the potential effect of surveillance technology on Second Amendment rights.
Jackson said information about a person’s movements could eventually create patterns showing visits to locations such as gun stores or shooting ranges. While acknowledging technology can assist police, she said public safety and constitutional liberty should not be viewed as an either-or proposition.
“The Constitution doesn’t become less important because technology has become more advanced,” Jackson said. “If anything, it becomes more important.”
Charles Inman spoke in support of the cameras, arguing they provide another tool for law enforcement in a world where cameras and other technology are already commonplace. Inman said Red Bay is not immune to drugs and crime and urged residents to support the police department.
“Mayberry was filmed in 1963,” Inman said. “Things have changed since my day.”
He said he believes the cameras can help officers solve cases and that Red Bay should give law enforcement the tools it needs.
Drew Jackson said he would personally prefer the cameras be removed but acknowledged that surveillance technology has become widespread. He instead urged the council to adopt a strict local policy governing its use.
Jackson proposed four primary safeguards: officers should verify Flock information before taking enforcement action; new Flock capabilities should require council approval before being activated; the city should establish a firm data-retention limit; and regular audits should document how and by whom the system is being used.
“This is the most important piece – transparency,” Jackson said.
He emphasized that he was not accusing the Red Bay Police Department of misusing the cameras.
“I’m saying any department using a tool this powerful needs real oversight,” he said.
A Flock Safety representative later addressed many of those concerns, explaining that Red Bay currently contracts only for the company’s license plate reader technology and not its other camera products. The representative said the readers capture license plate information along with vehicle characteristics such as make, body type, color and distinguishing features – what the company calls a “vehicle fingerprint.” She said the system can also alert police when a vehicle associated with an active investigation passes a camera.
Questions became pointed at times, particularly over what happens to information after it is shared with other agencies and what capabilities Flock technology possesses beyond reading license plates.
Drew Jackson cited language from a Flock patent describing technology capable of identifying characteristics of people, including clothing, height and weight. The representative said those capabilities pertain to other Flock products and not the license plate readers being used by Red Bay. Councilman Jonathan Strickland later returned to the issue, citing the patent number and telling the representative he had located it through a quick search.
Councilman Brad Bolton focused several questions on how much control the city could exercise over its data.
The Flock representative said Red Bay owns its data and that the default setting shares it with no other agency. Any sharing, she said, must be specifically authorized by the police department, allowing the city to determine individually which outside agencies, if any, can access its information.
The representative also said Flock historically used a 30-day default retention period, although new customers are now being set at seven days by default. Individual jurisdictions can establish their own retention periods subject to applicable laws.
Red Bay’s current retention period is 30 days, according to the discussion.
Bolton also questioned the security of the system. The representative said Flock uses end-to-end encryption, follows FBI Criminal Justice Information Services security procedures and employs internal and outside security testing intended to identify vulnerabilities.
The council tabled the approval of the proposed city policy governing the license plate recognition system, with members saying the draft still needed work – especially in light of all the questions posed and points made during the public hearing.
Bolton suggested the eventual policy be placed on the city’s website and published for two weeks before final consideration so residents could read it and offer additional input.
“We’ve got plenty of work sessions,” Bolton said, adding that the city could hold another public session before taking a final vote.
Council members also encouraged residents to remain involved in the process.
Councilman Jason Vinson said officials did not initially realize the level of concern Flock cameras would generate when the city began considering the technology. He said the council needs to hear directly from residents as it weighs public safety against their concerns.
Councilman Jarod Massey said he entered Monday’s hearing with an open mind and had taken extensive notes during the presentations.
“We are definitely going to be taking a deeper look into this and the policy that we’re going to be looking at adopting,” Massey said.
Mayor Mike Shewbart closed the discussion by asking Capt. Jake Tompkins of the Russellville Police Department about that department’s experience with Flock cameras.
Tompkins said Russellville has used the system for approximately five years and credited it with assisting in the recovery of 22 stolen vehicles and 20 stolen tags and helping locate eight missing persons. He also described cases in which Flock information helped investigators identify vehicles connected to crimes.
Tompkins said Russellville limits access to the system to certain individuals and operates under what he described as a strong departmental policy.
Shewbart said Red Bay could look to policies used by Russellville and other departments as it develops its own safeguards.
“I appreciate law enforcement wanting the top-of-the-line tools,” Shewbart said, “and I appreciate you as citizens coming and expressing your concern with your rights.”
