JACKSONVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – A social media post from the City of Jacksonville said the city does not own or operate any Flock cameras.
The post, made Tuesday afternoon, has drawn hundreds of comments from people asking questions, mainly about who owns the cameras and who has access to them.
Jacksonville City Manager Josh Ray said he knows four locations in Jacksonville that have Flock cameras, including Lowe’s and the Jacksonville Mall.
Ray said the city does not regulate Flock cameras and that businesses are not required to get a permit from the city to have them.
“If the city required permits for camera systems, then every residence would have to have a permit to have a Ring doorbell camera or just to have a security system on the outside because typically those cameras can see more than your property,” Ray said.
Ray said the Flock cameras in the city are on private property and the city does not regulate camera installation on private property.
“Flock cameras that are in the city are on private property, and the city does not regulate camera installation on private property. So, if a person has a concern about a camera on that, we don’t regulate those. So for them, they would need to manage their trips to that private property if they’re concerned about it,” Ray said.
Ray said the city has no access to the cameras and said the police department has never asked a private business for Flock camera footage. He said how businesses choose to use the cameras is up to them.
Onslow County resident Christian Sierra said he worries about not knowing who has access to the cameras.
“I find that a little more concerning, to be honest with you. If you’re not using them, who is, and you can’t, and you don’t know who is?” Sierra said.
Ray said the cameras on private property do read license plates, but the systems do not process that information to look up details on vehicles or owners.
“The benefit for them is like any other system that they would have. Maybe they use it as a theft deterrent, maybe they’re just managing their property. The camera system that they choose isn’t connected to a state or federal database, so it would not have a license plate reader installed on that camera,” Ray said.
Ray said the cameras read and store license plate information, but that information is not processed to look up data on a vehicle or its owner. He said the footage and data are available to police or the sheriff’s office, if requested.
The Onslow County Sheriff’s Office said it does not have Flock cameras but has 12 Ranger cameras that started to be phased in during the spring.
Ranger cameras, also known as PlateRanger, are an artificial intelligence-powered automated license plate recognition and vehicle intelligence system.
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