Lake Elsinore Approves More Flock Surveillance Cameras Across The City

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — To help deter crime, the Lake Elsinore City Council voted Tuesday to lease an additional 25 automated Flock cameras to scan license plates across the city, a move that made some residents feel uneasy.

Lake Elsinore is one of many Riverside County cities that now use Flock cameras. Across Southwest Riverside County, nearly 200 cameras have been installed.

During Tuesday's meeting, some residents spoke up about fears of privacy violations.

"I understand these cameras are very important the city, to law enforcement, to everybody involved, but I have a small concern of my privacy and other people's privacy," a resident said during the public comment portion of the meeting. "I look out my windows and what do I see? This big old camera."

City Manager Jason Simpson insisted that the cameras only photograph license plates and are are having a positive impact by reporting snapshots of the areas they cover to law enforcement.

"It'll actually ping the nearest police car if there's a stolen vehicle in the area," he said. "Since we put them in, our stolen vehicle count is down by almost 45 percent. It also leads to the recovery of those vehicles."

Simpson alleged that the cameras are not actually taking video.

"It's not targeting anyone's privacy," he said.

The Flock camera systems photograph license plates, convert the numbers and letters into machine-readable text, and tag them with time and location information. Images are uploaded directly to the cloud.

Patch commenter Jess Cuellar also expressed concern about the city's implementation of more cameras in a recent related story.

"It seems like everyone is willing to give up their constitutional rights if it is 'for the greater good'," Cuellar said. "Just another example of police agencies getting everything they want so that they can track everyone's movements."

Another commenter, John Jackson, said it's necessary to give up "a little personal privacy" to protect others.

"The purpose of these cameras is to track vehicles leaving a crime or other illegal activity," Jackson said. "The Sheriff can get your registered address via radio check of license number, so what are you worried about unless you are a violator?"

The expenditure is expected to cost about $87,550 annually over a two-year contract with Atlanta-based Flock Group Inc., according to city documents.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department will continue to have direct access to the information obtained by the cameras, and any data retrieved will be in the agency's custody, according to city documents. The city of Lake Elsinore contracts with the sheriff's department for police services.

The data obtained by the cameras is considered "personal information" and is subject to privacy and security requirements under state law.