New Orleans needs to regulate Flock cameras • The Tulane Hullabaloo

Flock cameras are being implemented across New Orleans, adding to the city's surveillance network. The cameras sparked widespread controversy over whether they make the community safer or give authorities too much access to people's daily movements. Flock cameras are automated license plate readers that capture passing vehicles and record information such as license plates, vehicle characteristics, time and location. The cameras turn that information into searchable data that can identify vehicles and support criminal investigations. Supporters see the cameras as a law enforcement tool that can help locate stolen cars and identify vehicles connected to crime and aid investigations. I see the Flock cameras as a tracking system that lets the government collect and search information about where anyone drives. Concerns grow even larger when you consider Flock cameras alongside the surveillance systems New Orleans already has. The city operated a Real-Time Crime Center that used thousands of cameras across the city, with cameras covering every neighborhood and providing video to public-safety personnel. The city also works with SafeCam NOLA , which connects private, public-facing security cameras to the Real-Time Crime Center. Project NOLA is also a separate network and nonprofit organization that has grown to thousands of cameras across the city. Project NOLA says its cameras can be used for license-plate recognition, vehicle recognition and sometimes facial recognition. The nonprofit works with law enforcement to provide camera footage and other information during investigations. These systems don't mean New Orleans is doing anything wrong by using surveillance technology, since cameras can help law enforcement investigate violent crimes, find stolen vehicles and respond to emergencies. But Flock cameras add another kind of information to the surveillance network. Normal security cameras can capture a person walking or a vehicle passing, but a license-plate reader turns that into a searchable record. A person does not have to be suspected of a crime for their vehicle to be recorded. They don't have to be aware they are being documented, and they don't have to interact with law enforcement. Their car can pass a camera on the way to work or a friend's house, and that information will become a part of a large database. Also, a camera that seems harmless alone can become much more powerful when its information is combined with other cameras, license-plate records, video feeds or investigative databases. NOPD has also been using drones, including a program that drew criticism. In September, the department released a dashboard showing where and when drones had been deployed after calls for more public accountability. New Orleans should not keep adding surveillance technology first and figuring out the rules or transparency with civilians later. Before Flock cameras become another permanent part of the city's public safety network, officials should set clear limits on how the data is collected, searched, stored and distributed and give the public a say in those decisions.