License plate readers coming to smaller towns in Wichita area

ROSE HILL, Kan. (KSNW) – FLOCK cameras have been used in Wichita and parts of Sedgwick County for some time now to read license plates to locate suspects.

Now the system is expanding to smaller towns like Rose Hill.

“There are some valid privacy concerns, and I understand that,” said Rose Hill Police Chief Taylor Parlier. “These cameras are placed in very specific locations so as to only get the vehicle leaving. So it doesn’t see who is driving the vehicle. We can’t target individuals. We don’t have a live-stream access, so we can’t just sit there and watch the individuals that are driving or watch certain areas. It’s only meant to be reactive.”

Chief Parlier says the couple of cameras in use today have already been helpful in breaking up a car burglary ring. With the help of other police jurisdictions, FLOCK cameras were able to identify suspects stealing in Rose Hill and selling stolen goods in Wichita.

“It doesn’t even have the ability to find people that are speeding. So basically what we are looking for is it holds images for only a month, and based on the vast amount of images they take in, they get rid of them after a month,” said Parlier. “I think it’s a fair trade-off. We don’t want to be able to look back for all eternity to be able to find something. Typically the crimes that we are looking at, we are going to know someone was victimized, and we can search within minutes or a day or two.”

The FLOCK camera system in and around Rose Hill will soon be up to so-called full speed with more cameras across town.

Some in the Rose Hill area say this could be a fair trade of privacy for protection.

“Well, I think it’s a good thing if we can stop people from stealing and burglaries and things like that, yeah, I think it’s a good thing,” said area resident Ron Long.

Others agree, to a point.

“I have seen other cameras. They are out there. I have seen them already. I’ve seen them on the traffic lights already, and I see them in the Walmart parking lots, so there are a lot out there,” said Rose Hill area resident Treye Morrison. “Ah, it could be a good trade-off. It could not be a good trade-off. It just depends on how it’s utilized.”

Chief Parlier maintains the camera system is not a way to invade privacy.

“People like their privacy, of course,” said Parlier. “What we are looking for is things we miss. The people in the stolen vehicle next to us that we might not even know is a stolen vehicle,” said Parlier. “As soon as the stolen vehicle passes a FLOCK camera, it will notify us that a stolen vehicle has just entered town or a stolen vehicle tag or a wanted person. We get an alert on our vehicle laptops.”

KSN reached out to the FLOCK system of cameras. Company officials confirm they are expanding into more rural cities across the state. While the company would not give specifics of where the expansion is happening for proprietary reasons, FLOCK camera systems did say it now works with at least 45 police jurisdictions across the State of Kansas.