Our own small town of Winchester has recently received some new hardware; new traffic cameras called Flock Cameras used by law enforcement to catch criminals.
Winchester has four Flock Cameras placed in different locations. One in front of the police department on Maple Street, one on Lexington Avenue near the Winchester Warehouse, one on the Bypass near Windridge Drive and one on the Bypass near Redwing Drive.
Flock Cameras are manufactured by a company called Flock Safety, which was founded in 2017 by Garrett Langley and Matt Feury. These cameras are not just regular traffic cameras; they are license plate readers (LPRs) that are used by schools, hospitals, businesses, and neighborhoods in over 40 states all across the country.
Neighboring counties such as Montgomery County, Madison County, Bourbon County, and Fayette County use Flock cameras as well. Fayette County has over 100 cameras in place.
The first Flock camera was installed in front of the Winchester Police Department in October with more installed later.
“These cameras make the community safer by informing our officers that there may be a dangerous person in the area,” Winchester Chief of Police James Hall said.
Flock cameras are helping to reduce crime and catch criminals by providing data-driven evidence. These cameras run 24/7 surveillance and notify the local authorities as soon as it recognizes a flagged license plate.
They also eliminate false identifications or allegations. Officers nor dispatchers have the ability to look at a live view; the cameras are strictly a passive system.
“They are looking for license plates that have been entered by a law enforcement agency for any reason such as, a missing person, an amber alert, a stolen vehicle, a wanted person, or a person that is involved in a domestic violence situation,” explains Chief Hall.
Not only do these cameras help the officer catch criminals, they also help 911 dispatchers with many different aspects of their job.
“It serves as a highly valuable investigative tool and can be used to track down locations of vehicles that may have been involved in any local cases units may be needing further information on,” Winchester Police Dispatch Supervisor Ashley Reed said.
“They help the community by being not only a crime deterrent as the public becomes aware of law enforcement having the resource, but also by contributing to the overall public safety of the community,” adds Supervisor Reed. “Flock cameras allow for law enforcement to better identify and apprehend the individuals that may pose a threat to the community.”
The Winchester Police Department has the capability of viewing data from other Flock cameras around the country in conducting investigations.
The cameras have already proven extremely beneficial as an investigative tool and several stolen vehicles have been recovered thanks to the data gathered from them.
