POST FALLS, Idaho — The mayor of Post Falls has opposed the use of Flock camera systems, calling the technology “unconstitutional mass surveillance.” However, the city of Post Falls does use another brand of cameras that read license plates to assist law enforcement.
When dispatchers with the Post Falls Police Department run a license plate, they have access to the car’s make, model, and color. The cameras also pick up any distinctive stickers or dents in the vehicle.
The system also identifies who the vehicle is registered to, though it does not capture images of the people driving the vehicle.
“There’s no images of the people that are driving the vehicle. All we’re catching is the back view of the car,” said Brian Harrison, Investigations Captain with the Post Falls Police Department.
Post Falls has partnered with Motorola for more than 10 years, using fewer than 6 cameras throughout the city to help track down stolen vehicles or locate missing people.
“There’s a balancing act between using something that’s a great investigative tool while also respecting the rights of the public,” Harrison said. “The last thing we want is for somebody to feel like they’re in a police state.”
Flock is a brand of license plate reader system. While some people use “Flock” as a generic term for all license plate readers, the Post Falls Police Department does not use Flock’s system.
“Sometimes people will refer to Flock like saying Kleenex instead of tissue. There’s some stuff that certain people are maybe not happy about with Flock. I can’t speak to flock cameras because we don’t use theirs,” Harrison explained.
Instead, Post Falls uses Motorola cameras, which offers full ownership of the physical camera systems. The Motorola system also firewalls and separates commercial data from the law enforcement database.
Access to the system is tightly controlled. Out of the department’s 85 paid employees, only about 2 dozen have access to the cameras. This restriction ensures that only trained personnel can search the license plate database.
The department maintains strict control over the data collected, and it’s never shared with third parties.
“We own it. We maintain it. It’s ours,” Harrison said.
The department has implemented additional safeguards to protect community data. Employees with access must complete a special form each time they search the database.
“They have to enter a case number to attach to that and then explain why they’re running that license plate,” Harrison said.
According to Idaho state law, agencies must maintain license plate data for a minimum of two years. However, Post Falls is currently seeking an exemption that would shorten that retention window significantly.
“30 to 90 days is about right for us for the investigative purpose,” Harrison said.
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