Controversial Flock cameras launching in Prince William County

We're back with a FOX 5 exclusive new controversial flop cameras in Prince William County. Dumfries Police say it will help solve crime, but critics are raising privacy concerns. FOX 5's Tisha Lewis reports. And we're told so far five flop cameras have been installed. In fact, we found one right here if you take a look. There it is on a light post. You never know unless you look closely. Three more are set to be installed before they go live at the beginning of next month is what we're told. These devices making headlines as we've reported on officers where some officers find themselves on the wrong side of the law for using flop cameras for personal use. Policies were told are in place to prevent that from happening here. And it's just making sure people know what we're using them for and also understand the repercussions for if they violate the policy. And you know, they're police officers so they should know obviously from right from wrong and what they what they can do so they know that those flop cameras are just like any other piece of equipment. It's not for personal use. It's for business, business usually. And if they do violate, what's the consequence? Oh, you know, we'll see what the violation is, but it's it's definitely going to be, you know, substantial. Dumfries police chief Vernon Galen Jr. goes on to say stiff penalties are in place for those who violate flat camera policies, including termination and possible criminal prosecution. We're told the cameras provide an extra layer of enforcement, pinging stolen cars, missing people and tracking possible crimes and suspects. Meanwhile, we're learning more about how the flat cameras help neighboring law enforcement agencies work together to solve crimes across the state. But there's also pushback. We just wanted to purchase a tool that can help us collaborate with us being located right here off of Route 1, right next to I-95. Many people travel through the town of Dumfries and they just hop on the highway. So we want to be able to assist local other jurisdictions to be able to find people who may have committed crimes against persons, may have stolen another vehicle, or we have missing or endangered people. So we just wanted to make sure we can collaborate, which we couldn't do in the past. So there's issues about what data is shared, how long data is saved for, who it is shared with outside of the initial law enforcement agency that may be taking in that data. So there's just a lot of unknowns. There you go. Meanwhile, the ACLU telling us that less than one percent of license plates pinged by these flat cameras are connected to any crimes. Meanwhile, this flat camera that you see behind me, along with seven others, Fox Live has learned will go live the first week of September. All of this apparently made possible by a $35,000 grant.