The White County Budget Committee debated the future of police camera funding as commissioners weighed privacy concerns against law enforcement wants.
The discussion focused on the $25,000 allocated for Flock Safety cameras and pursuit alert contracts. Commissioner TK Austin said he does not trust the system because he believes corporate entities can pay to access the tracking data.
“The more research I’ve done on those, I’m not sure that we need those in our community,” Austin said. “I know they are a good source for our law enforcement, but it’s not just law enforcement that are looking at those. It’s, it’s, I mean, if you’re willing to pay the subscription, any corporate entity can take a look at that and track.”
The Sheriff’s Office said the cameras are a vital investigative tool that has already assisted in local cases. The system provides immediate alerts for stolen vehicles and has flagged vehicles on federal terrorist watch lists passing through the county.
Flock Safety Representative Matt Foster said the data is not sold and access is restricted based on the agency’s sharing permissions. Foster said the county currently utilizes 12 cameras, including eight hardwired units and four solar-powered long-range units.
“Law enforcement can only share with other law enforcement if they are given the permission to,” Foster said. “We share our network, sir, with law enforcement only. So if you have Walmart, a bank, US Bank down here, they can’t see our network because they’re not law enforcement.”
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said he opposes the concept of the cameras because of the privacy implications for law-abiding citizens. Robinson said he is uncomfortable with a private company storing government data on a cloud server.
“I just don’t like the concept of the data and the tracking and, keeping up with, I feel like it’s an invasion of our privacy for, definitely for the law-abiding citizen,” Robinson said. “This data is not being. it’s being kept by a company, and they can say what they want. They can sell and share that data.”
The committee ultimately voted 3-1 to approve the budget as submitted, including the camera funding, with County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson casting the lone dissenting vote.