Madison to install license plate camera system
MADISON – License plate cameras will soon be popping up around Madison.
The Madison city council approved the installation of Flock Safety license plate recognition cameras for use by the Madison Police Department at the March 24 city council meeting.
The cameras use vehicle fingerprint technology that identifies cars by their make, model, and color in addition to their license plate numbers. The cameras are not red light or speeding cameras.
Huntsville and Decatur have already employed license plate recognition cameras to conduct surveillance on criminal activity. Madison police Chief Johnny Gandy explained that bringing the cameras to Madison is intended to fill a gap in surveillance and crime stopping in North Alabama.
“Now, what we do know is criminal element from Decatur and criminal element from Huntsville pass through Madison quite frequently. Madison has a big blank spot here because Huntsville can track the criminal element. Decatur can track the criminal element, but we can’t. There’s kind of a black hole right here in the middle when they come into Madison. So, now we’re able to plug that hole,” said Chief Gandy.
Flock Safety, the company behind the cameras, has faced accusations of violating the Fourth Amendment with its cameras’ data collection and storage.
Some Madison residents voiced similar concerns in the public comments section of the city council meeting.
“The bottom line is this is a terrific system, and I’m sure it will be very helpful to the police department. If I was in the police department, I’m sure I would want it but there are privacy and misuse concerns, and they’ve been raised throughout the country with regard to this system,” commented one Madison resident.
“What’s actually happening is we’re allowing Flock to install data collection systems throughout the city that send the data to Flock, who will make it available to Madison and any of their other customers,” said another concerned citizen.
According to Chief Gandy, the new camera system will follow current policy for License Plate Recognition cameras of storing data for thirty days.
“We do not have a bunch of people sitting back behind computer screens in the police station tracking people’s vehicle and tracking all their information,” said Gandy.
The cameras will be able to detect certain license plate numbers associated with suspects and then send an alert to Madison police. They will cost the city $86,000 to install.
