The Culpeper Police Department recently announced its placement of cameras in high-traffic areas around town, capturing images of license plates and other vehicle characteristics — one piece of the local agency’s development of a comprehensive, technology-fueled “Real Time Crime Center.”
Developed by Flock Safety, the automated license plate readers collect data compared against National Crime Information Center and data compiled by partnering law enforcement agencies of license plates associated with criminal activity or missing persons, according to a recent Culpeper Police Department release. The images do not include people or faces.
Each search of the image database requires a criminal investigative justification or other justified reason and the data is never sold or shared with third parties, police said.
The Flock Safety nationwide camera system can be searched by license plate, as well as make and model of the vehicle and other characteristics, such as bumper stickers and vehicle racks, according to Culpeper Police Chief Chris Settle, Deputy Chief Tim Chilton and Todd Durica, senior police technology officer, during an interview in July.
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Any matches on the system prompt real-time alerts to law enforcement.
The town has agreements with over 100 agencies for sharing camera footage and access to over 2,700 cameras across the country, and counting, so far. The data is automatically purged after 30 days, in accordance with Virginia law.
The decision to start using the cameras was made “after careful consideration of the needs of our community and our agency, as well as locating missing children and adults,” according the release.
The first license plate reader was placed in late spring at Rockwater Park, site of the popular summer-time splash pad.
“There are so many kids, and we have had some smash and grabs up there,” Settle said of deciding on first camera location. “If anything ever happened, we have such a large concentration of small children up there … God forbid anything ever happened, at least we have the license plate for every car that goes in and out of that place.”
Seven more license plate reader cameras have come online since then around town, and more are to come, Settle said in a phone call Tuesday. The police department has adopted a best practices policy for use of the new technology and the system is audited regularly, according to officials.
“The cameras are used to solve property and violent crime, not to enforce minor traffic or parking violations,” the release stated.
In the July interview, Settle said the Real Time Crime Center will integrate existing technologies at the agency, like the license plate readers, to provide moment-by-moment information to officers on the street. The police department received a $130,000 Department of Justice grant earlier this year for components of the center, including computers, software and a large-screen TV with multi-channel display capacity.
Under development, the center will be incident-based and operated by a current longtime crime analyst. Settle said he could see it growing into a full-time dispatch station with overnight staff support.
The TV will have ability to display license plate cameras along with footage from public cameras downtown, like at the Depot and town owned facilities, police drones in the field and body cam, livestreamed, in the future. The information would then be shared via radio to the street level.
As the system progresses, the police department hopes to pursue agreements with private business owners and homeowner’s associations for use of private cameras for integration into the Real Time Crime Center.
“It functions as a crime information center,” Settle said, adding, “We get calls every day, but what makes the real in front of it is, we are using the information we are getting and using our tools at our disposal in real time and getting that information to the officer on the street as he’s handling the situation.”
The centers are a new trend in policing, Settle said, and Culpeper Police is among the smallest agencies ramping up its use of the technologies. The agency is a member of the new Real Time Crime Center Association. Settle and two others went to the first conference this past fall in New Orleans.
“This is like body cams of 10 years ago,” Settle said. “All this technology is getting thrown at us, AI is the new thing, facial recognition, so much stuff coming, it’s already here. It could be used for good, to benefit law enforcement purposes, but it’s also intrusive so there’s a fine line. We want to make sure the public understands.”
Culpeper Police have had body cams since 2016. Car cameras at the agency go back decades, Settle said, recalling when he worked patrol, and getting footage off VHS tapes. Like with the body cams, public input is being sought for the license plate cameras.
A public meeting for that purpose will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 29, at the police station. This is an opportunity for the public to see what the Flock system does and does not do, review the department policy and ask questions. The agency has also created a portal for monitoring frequency of activity at transparency.flocksafety.com/culpeper-va-pd-.
An Arizona police department that Durica communicated with had access to about 4,000 public and private cameras in their city.
“This is the future,” he said. “Basically, when their officer makes a traffic stop at an intersection there is a camera that they can turn and focus in on that officer for the entire duration of the stop, can talk to him … can be real time, basically another officer out there watching their back.”
Culpeper is not there yet, commented Settle, noting the town does not have street cameras. Working toward a Real Time Crime Center means having all the technology in one place, integrated on one platform and getting back to the officer on the street at that given point, the chief said.
Expansion of street-level cameras in Culpeper is possible, officials said.
Police have already met with downtown business owners about integrating their web-based camera systems into the Real Time Crime Center, said Chilton. Overwhelmingly, they want to be part of it, he added.
The technology is coming, Settle said, noting humans are needed to manage and use it. The planned crime center could include more databases on people and live feeds from police drones.
Settle imagined using live-feed drone technology to monitor execution of a search warrant at the home of someone dealing fentanyl, track fleeing suspects and virtually pursue vehicles using available cameras.
“I think in the next five, 10 years, everybody will be operating Real Time Crime Centers,” Settle said. “Technology — we are not using as we should. Right now, the officer on the street is the only one watching.”
Chilton, Culpeper County Sheriff-elect, said the new center would be huge for the police department and the entire community.
“The more things we can add to the building and technology to the town and even for the county, both sides of the street, I think people will rely on it,” he said. Cameras are everywhere these days, officials agreed.
“I think that’s pretty normal … you’re on a camera when you’re in a business or on the street or you’re on someone’s cell phone camera,” said Chilton, noting he has cameras all over his property. “It doesn’t take the place of real police work, but it supplements the heck out of it. This is a huge tool.”
Police cited more than half-dozen incidents of how the license plate reader at Rockwater Park has already helped in solving crimes involving stolen vehicles, grand larcenies and hit and runs.
Settle said in his 27 years of law enforcement, he has not seen a piece of technology that locates criminals in the manner and speed in which the license plate cameras do.
“In addition, the ability to find and locate a loved one who has gone missing makes this technology invaluable.”
According to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, seven in 10 crimes are committed with a vehicle, according to the police release.
Flock Safety cameras are used by thousands of cities across the country, including over 2,000 police departments. Communities using the cameras have reported crime reductions of up to 70%, according to the release.
The cameras are not without controversy. The ACLU earlier this year issued a statement saying, “the surveillance company Flock Safety is blanketing American cities with dangerously powerful and unregulated automatic license plate recognition cameras.
“While license plate readers have been around for some time, Flock is the first to create a nationwide mass-surveillance system out of its customers’ cameras,” according to the ACLU.
“Flock is building a giant camera network that records people’s comings and goings across the nation, and then makes that data available for search by any of its law enforcement customers,” the February statement said.
“Such a system provides even small-town sheriffs access to a sweeping and powerful mass-surveillance tool, and allows big actors like federal agencies and large urban police departments to access the comings and goings of vehicles in even the smallest of towns. And every new customer that buys and installs the company’s cameras extends Flock’s network, contributing to the creation of a centralized mass surveillance system of Orwellian scope,” the ACLU stated.
