KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Independence. Share your story idea with Claire.
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Flock cameras are becoming increasingly popular in policing in the Kansas City area. Multiple metro departments — like Liberty, Grain Valley and Blue Springs — now use the system's license plate reader cameras.
Grain Valley’s police chief said this technology brings his officers into the digital age of crime fighting.
“It really helps us to have the best response for the community so that we can then leverage that intel and really be more surgical in terms of how we deploy, where we deploy and when we deploy," said Grain Valley Chief of Police Ed Turner.
This summer marks one year since Grain Valley implemented its cameras at busy intersections. A public records request revealed Grain Valley officers have listed Flock or LPR cameras in almost 60 case reports thus far.
Another records request showed the Blue Springs Police Department, which has had Flock for two years, has reported using it around 1,000 times.
“The Flock system was used in helping Kansas City with a homicide that had just occurred, and they put out the information over the radio to outside agencies," said Lt. Brandon Claxton, of the Blue Springs Police Department. "They gave us a vehicle description and license. We were able to search that vehicle description and locate it here in Blue Springs.”
The two departments are not comparable in size but are in location. While Grain Valley only has five LPRs, Blue Springs has 52.
Nevertheless, these two departments can work together on cases thanks in part to the connection between Flock.
Departments can also see how often officers are searching and using Flock. In the last month, Grain Valley officers searched Flock 168 times. Blue Springs officers did the same, searching nearly 1,600 times.
Both departments said they have future plans of expanding their camera usage and reach. Blue Springs also uses Flock's live 911 call system.
As far as how these are paid for, Grain Valley originally purchased its LPRs with American Rescue Plan Act funds and will now factor them into future budgets. The Blue Springs City Council approved funds to purchase its camera system.
Flock is not just available to law enforcement; homeowners associations and businesses can also purchase a subscription. Both BSPD and GVPD said they are working to educate their community partners on this camera system as an available tool but are not actively pushing them to purchase.
HOAs, for example, could implement Flock at entrances and exits to the neighborhood and share that information with police. However, HOAs would not be able to see any police-managed cameras.
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