FLOCK CAMERA … Sheriff Roy Miller stands holding one of the counties FLOCK Cameras.
By: Jacob Kessler
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and neighboring villages are planning to expand on the counties license plate reading cameras. The cameras are not new and have been present in the county since around 2010.
Sheriff Roy Miller explained what got the department interested in the in the first place. “Several counties received grants from the Department of Homeland Security for mobile readers called ELSAG cameras.
These were purchased from that money, and we have used them ever since. We first got 2 sets for our cars to try them out and they worked,” said Sheriff Miller.
Since the initial two, the department received 3 more for a total of 5, with additional cameras coming mostly from other counties in the area. Since then, a new interest has grown for what are called FLOCK cameras.
These cameras are solar powered and wireless which means they can be moved around when needed. They also come with monitoring and support 24/7. “Our cameras only pick up and alert us on certain things.”
“We have them set to notify us of missing persons, warrants, stolen vehicles and stolen plates. We also have them set up to alert our detective when it detects sex offenders,” said Sheriff Miller.
Since their implementation, the cameras have led to the arrest of multiple people with warrants that were serious enough for extradition, the return of 8 stolen vehicles, hits on missing children and adults as well as other things.
One such story is that of a woman who was visiting a State Park in New York from the West Coast. Her family had not heard from for days which prompted them to call her in as missing.
When Park Rangers caught up with her to find out she was in fact not missing, they gave her a flyer showing that she was missing as a souvenir.
As she passed through Fulton County, the cameras recognized her as a missing person, due to the park rangers not yet removing her from the system and directed Deputies to her location.
When Deputies arrived, she was able to show them the flyer of herself missing. “While this was nothing serious it could have been. It is nice to see that it works and gives you peace of mind that if something serious was to pass through, it will pick it up,” said Sheriff Miller.
The cameras themselves cost around $2,500 a year per camera as they, and the service provided, are leased from the FLOCK company.
With several cameras already around the county, and another 8 planned, Sheriff Miller says it is another tool in the tool kit, and another pair of eyes to help. “No matter what we cannot be everywhere at once. This helps us so that, in a way, we can be,” said Sheriff Miller.
Currently, several villages across the county are working together to pull in the 8 additional cameras and hope to get an approved grant to pay for them.
These cameras are also being used in many other surrounding counties and by numerous jurisdictions across the state and country and they provide an invaluable resource to the departments that use them.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com
