Hartland has become the second Niagara County municipality to get rid of its installed Flock Cameras.
The town board passed a resolution unanimously at its September meeting to remove the controversial license-plate reading cameras installed at two places along Ridge Road. They have been in contact with Niagara County Sheriff Mike Filicetti about taking them down.
“We’re firm about it; we don’t want them in Hartland,” said Deputy Supervisor Elizabeth Neadow. She added this was about protecting residents’ personal freedom, with the town board having questions about where the data goes and what data the cameras help collect.
The Hartland cameras are located at the intersections of Ridge Road with Quaker Road and Stone Road, with a total of three. They are among 67 total cameras that have been installed throughout the county in municipalities including Niagara Falls, Lockport, North Tonawanda, Lewiston, Porter, Cambria, Pendleton, Olcott, Newfane, Wilson, and Barker.
The Niagara County Sheriff’s Office announced it would bring the Flock cameras to the county in July 2023, advertising that their license plate reading capabilities would help law enforcement agencies track stolen vehicles, track criminal suspects, and enhance missing persons recovery efforts. Their installation was funded with a Department of Homeland Security grant.
The photos the cameras take are used by artificial intelligence to generate a profile related to that vehicle for police use. That data is stored for up to 30 days before deletion.
There has been a significant backlash to the cameras developing nationwide over privacy concerns, law enforcement officials abusing the system, and potential false arrests. The American Civil Liberties Union has repeatedly called this system a “mass surveillance tool.”
North Tonawanda was the first county municipality to pull its support for Flock cameras, doing so in August and the city’s one camera at the Niagara Falls Boulevard and Ohio Street intersection has since been removed. While the city’s mayor and city council shared the same data concerns as Hartland, they also stopped their support because the system has a third-party agreement without local oversight.
North Tonawanda officials have said they would be willing to have future discussions about the cameras.
The website DeFlock that tracks where these cameras are installed says there are more than 142,000 license-plate recognition cameras installed throughout the country. Aside from North Tonawanda and Royalton, it also lists 153 municipalities that have rejected the cameras.