Those who have shopped on the West End of Billings might not have even noticed them.
See what’s being said about the new cameras:
Flock Safety Cameras in Montana help fight crime, raise safety concerns
AI-enabled cameras operated by Flock Safety are being used by retailers, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s in Billings, to stop crime at their stores.
According to the company who makes them, they track license plates. They can also pick up the make and model of cars, color, bumper stickers, and even a dent.
These stores use them in parking lots and share data with police when crimes like shoplifting happen.
Paris Lewbel, a spokesperson from Flock Safety, explained how they work for private companies.
“You may see a vehicle involved in an incident and say, ‘oh that’s a white SUV’ and may not have the license plate. You’re able to use the system to search for ‘White SUV’ and then be able to get pictures within a time frame of something that then includes the license plate. And then that leads to additional evidence for the law enforcement agency to be able to investigate,” said Lewbel.
MTN News asked Billings residents about the cameras’ use at retail locations.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen. I have nothing to hide. You can go into every depth of what I do, and I’m good with it,” Billings resident Dale Bruner said in interview downtown.
“It’s going to be watching constantly. A person could turn his back. People make errors, but so do computers. So, as of right now, I trust a human more than a computer,” added Jessica Johnson, who lives in Billings.
While there’s no doubt the cameras can help fight crime, those from the ACLU of Montana say there are privacy concerns.
“They’re such a prolific company used around the nation that they’ve been able to create a nationwide database that’s on a cloud-based server. So they’re able to connect interstate travel,” said Henry Seaton, ACLU of Montana Lobbyist.
Seaton cites an example where a deputy tracked a woman in Texas who sought an abortion out of state using license plate reading cameras. Flock Safety has called this claim false.
Flock Safety claims she was being tracked as a missing woman and calls this case misleading.
While Seaton agrees cameras like these can help fight crime, he adds that technology is not immune to errors and in some cases has gone too far.
“They’ve shown a willingness to compromise people’s privacy that other companies haven’t, and I think we should all be concerned about it,” Seaton said.
“We’re credited with helping solve more 12% of all reported crime here in the United States,” said Lewbel.
As of now, law enforcement in Yellowstone County does not use Flock Cameras, though Sheriff Mike Linder says the company has reached out to him as well as other agencies across Montana.
He says he saw value in the technology, but he adds it would be a better fit for agencies with larger budgets and higher populations.
If law enforcement were to use license-plate-reading cameras, a Montana statute sets a 90-day limit on how long data can be stored.
Another statute requires agencies to set policies on how law enforcement looking at the data are trained and where and how the cameras are used.
While no law enforcement agency in Montana says they use the cameras, they are used in Spokane County, Wash., and Jackson, Wyo.
According to Flock Safety, privately used cameras cannot be accessed by law enforcement.
