Civil liberties groups are urging caution after the Columbia City Council approved the purchase of traffic surveillance cameras sold by the company Flock Safety.
On Monday, councilors authorized the Columbia Police Department to spend about $500,000 for automatic license plate readers — cameras at traffic lights or attached to police cruisers that scan each vehicle passing by.
Police plan to use the tool to locate vehicles that have been stolen or used in a crime.
But civil liberties groups say Flock cameras come with the risk of privacy violations and more.
Chad Marlow is an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which has civil rights concerns about Flock cameras.
Marlow said data showing where people travel, how often and when, can reveal a lot — which is especially an issue if the data is kept on file for any significant period of time.
Marlow said some communities, like those in New Hampshire, that use automatic license plate readers delete the data in minutes — only enough time to scan the plate and check it against a wanted registry. But Columbia’s agreement with Flock Safety would keep the data about vehicles for 30 days.
“Then you can track where every single person goes in public for an extended period of time, which basically eviscerates their ability to be anonymous in public,” Marlow said.
Marlow said where the devices are placed and what data they collect makes a difference, too.
“Is it, we're using this mass surveillance technology in order to check for, like Amber Alerts? Which is a great use. Or are we using it for ticky-tack violations in communities we’re already over-policing?” he said.
The Columbia City Council also passed an ordinance outlining the city’s policies for law enforcement surveillance oversight, though Marlow says Flock’s contract may not pass muster with such a law.
“Their rush to approve this contract actually undermines this whole new, really smart, thoughtful surveillance consideration law that they passed literally at the same time,” he said.
Ruby Cherian is an attorney at the Legal Aid Justice Center, a civil rights group based in Virginia. She said many communities in her state use Flock cameras, including Charlottesville, Norfolk and Richmond.
Cherian said the cameras can capture a significant amount of data about passing motorists.
“They're collecting the information of every single car that passes by them, not just ones that are on hit lists or registries that law enforcement are looking for,” she said. “They cover every single car that drives by them.”
Cherian believes more oversight is needed concerning how the data is used and for how long it’s retained.
“This really has a massive implication on your privacy and law enforcement, specifically, being able to know your comings and goings without any suspicion,” Cherian said.
Flock Safety said data collected from Columbia’s devices will be deleted from its servers after 30 days.