Panama City to shut down flock cameras

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Panama City Commissioners voted Tuesday to comply with a state order to remove license plate reading camera technology, known as flock cameras, from state roadways.

Commissioners also voted to terminate the city’s contract with the camera company after the Florida Department of Transportation ruled the cameras must be removed from the right of way.

“We voted to be compliant with FDOT’s ruling of saying get these out of the right of way, so what we’re going to do is terminate our contract with them because that’s what was offered to us,” Panama City Commissioner Brian Gringer said.

Commissioners said the license plate reading technology helped the police department solve crimes quickly.

“The police department has been able to solve a lot of crime very, very quickly in the use of these cameras. We’ve been able to find stolen vehicles really, really quickly, we’ve been able to find abduction cases really, really quickly,” Gringer said.

Commissioners said privacy has been the concern they have heard most from residents.

“I think one of the biggest problems with it is that it causes a net of surveillance that is probably too fine,” Gringer said.

“That’s the beauty of our system, the citizens, through their input can decide what they want, what level of service do they want,” Gringer said.

Commissioners said the Panama City Police Department had safeguards in place for the cameras.

“In our police department, there are only four people who have access to the cameras. It’s not in the vehicles, so the average officer cannot just use this technology. They have to request the usage of it through a gatekeeper, and every one of those entries then has to be justified,” Gringer said.

Commissioners said there are still unanswered questions about red zone cameras in school zones that use similar technology.

“There are some questions to go back to the state, you say all ALPRs, does that include school zones? I don’t know, the staff is working through that now,” Gringer said.

Commissioners said the goal is to balance safety with privacy and said the bags will cover the disabled cameras, so the public knows they are not in use.

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