Pinellas County sheriff defends Flock cameras

Local law enforcement agencies are defending automated license plate readers. Earlier this week, FDOT ordered the cameras on all state highway rights-of-way to be taken down within 30 days. The Pinellas County Sheriff is the latest to comment on the order. FOX 13's Kylie Jones is joining us in the newsroom with his response. Kylie, what did he have to say? Well, Haley, first of all, Sheriff Bob Galtieri says they'll comply with the order, but as far as cameras on county rights-of-way go, those will stay. He says these automated license plate readers have been pivotal in solving crimes, and he argues there's a lot of confusion about what they can and what they can't do. Now, Sheriff Galtieri says ALPRs, like flock cameras and other brands, have recovered missing children, human trafficking victims. They've identified vehicles connected to robberies, and they've helped find stolen vehicles. He says they've played a big role in reducing crime in Pinellas County by more than 64 percent over the last 10 years. Galtieri says he understands privacy concerns, but he disputed a lot of recent claims about what these cameras do. He says ALPRs take a picture of the back of a car and its license plate, where anyone else could publicly see that same information. It notes the location and time that car passes by. He says ALPRs aren't recording video, and they're motion activated. There's no continuous photographing. The sheriff gave an example of how these cameras helped solve a murder in June. We didn't have any suspects. We had information that the killer left the scene on a motorcycle. By checking the ALPR system in the area around the time of the murder, we were able to identify a tag on a possible suspect motorcycle. By running the tag in the State Department of Highway and Safety Motor Vehicles, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicle System, in that database, we determined the registered owner of the tag captured on the ALPR was an associate of the murder victim, and through subsequent investigation, established probable cause to arrest the suspect for first degree murder. Now, following this state's memo, Pinellas County Commissioner Vince Nowicki proposed a resolution to discuss ALPRs. He's calling for the county to follow suit, for the sheriff's office to end its agreements with Flock and similar companies and take down cameras on county rights of way as well. Nowicki said, quote, public safety and personal liberty aren't mutually exclusive. Now, the sheriff addressed this today, saying he spoke with the commissioner and plans to talk with the commission again at an upcoming public work session. Now, the Tampa Police Department said it'll be removing 17 highway cameras, but it will keep carefully using the ALPR system on city streets. The St. Pete police chief said they'll also continue using their 44 cameras on city streets. But recently, the Pasco County sheriff announced they're ending their contract that allows ALPRs, despite the sheriff warning people that it would make it more challenging to solve crimes. And Manatee County commissioners also banned the cameras from county parks and facilities. Mark, something tells me this is not the last we have spoken of these. Callie, thanks much.