Flock cameras: what they are and how Laurens County uses them

Flock cameras have been in the news a great deal lately. The automated license plate readers, made by the public safety company Flock Safety, have spread rapidly across the country, drawing praise from law enforcement for helping solve crimes and scrutiny from privacy advocates and some lawmakers over how the data is collected, stored and shared. Debates over the cameras have surfaced in city council meetings, courtrooms and headlines from the Upstate to the West Coast.

Much of that national conversation has a local footprint. Drivers moving through Laurens, Clinton and other parts of the county pass slim Flock cameras mounted on utility poles at many of the main entry points into town. Local law enforcement leaders describe them as one of their most useful investigative tools, while some residents have raised questions about privacy and oversight. Here is a closer look at what the cameras are and how agencies across Laurens County use them.

What Flock cameras are

Flock cameras are automated license plate readers, often shortened to ALPRs. Mounted at intersections and along travel corridors, the cameras are motion-activated and photograph vehicles as they pass. The system records a vehicle’s license plate, make, model and color, along with the date, time and location of each sighting. It does not capture a driver’s name, address or identity, and the cameras do not issue citations.

The system is integrated with state and national crime databases, including the National Crime Information Center, or NCIC. When a vehicle is entered into NCIC as stolen, linked to a crime, or connected to an Amber or Silver Alert, it automatically feeds into Flock, which notifies local agencies when a camera reads that plate. Officers say any hit must be reviewed by a person before action is taken. Data is stored for 30 days and then is no longer available to law enforcement.

How local agencies use them

The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office operates 10 Flock cameras placed strategically throughout the county and shares camera access with the Laurens Police Department, Clinton Police Department, Presbyterian College Public Safety and agencies in surrounding counties. The office describes the system as an investigative tool used for crimes ranging from murder to property theft, the apprehension of fugitives and the search for missing or endangered people.

The sheriff’s office pointed to several recent cases. On May 28, a Flock hit on a vehicle reported stolen out of Lexington led deputies and Laurens city police to recover the vehicle and take the driver into custody. In a string of burglaries at homes under construction near Fountain Inn, where thieves hauled off appliances such as washers and dryers, investigators used Flock to trace a box truck seen leaving the scene, which led them to the correct license plate and the person who had rented it. Flock also helped identify out-of-state suspects in an ongoing case in which an elderly couple was scammed out of about $4.5 million in gold. In another case, an elderly Fountain Inn woman with dementia who drove away from home was located by a neighboring agency and reunited with her family after her vehicle was entered into the system.

Over the last 180 days, the sheriff’s office’s most frequent searches were tied to larceny and theft, motor vehicle theft and wanted persons, followed by animal offenses, homicide and death investigations, and assault. At the sheriff’s office, Flock is funded through the agency’s budget, and officials said they are working with local businesses and neighborhood associations in hopes of adding more cameras in the future.

The Clinton Police Department recently acquired eight Flock cameras at a cost of about $24,000 a year, including software. Chief Michael Addison said the cameras are placed at the city’s main entry points rather than throughout neighborhoods and are attached to city utility poles, while Presbyterian College has some around its campus.

Addison credited the cameras with helping solve serious crimes. In the Walker murder case, he said, Flock was invaluable to a rapid arrest of those responsible in an investigation that spanned three counties. The department has also recovered several stolen vehicles and a boat that had been taken from another county and stored in Clinton. In one recent case, Addison said, officers spotted a motorcycle displaying the wrong tag, learned through Flock that it had been stolen out of Spartanburg two years earlier, and identified the suspect, who was still wearing the same clothing captured in a Flock camera image. “Flock is an investigative tool and a force multiplier,” Addison said.

The Laurens Police Department has operated Flock cameras within the city since 2023, when it installed a system that officers used to make arrests soon after it was activated, including cases involving stolen vehicles.

Safeguards and oversight

Local agencies say the system includes safeguards against misuse. Officers must enter a reason before searching the data, and that search is logged for auditing, much like the long-standing requirement for running NCIC. “Just like our NCIC computers, the officers must have a reason to access or search the data,” Addison said.

The sheriff’s office said command staff can monitor and audit searches, that it conducts audits every two weeks, and that it maintains an internal policy spelling out consequences for misuse. Flock’s own system also flags potential misuse. Access is limited to authorized users, and searches are recorded.

Questions from the public

The cameras have drawn strong support from law enforcement and questions from some residents and advocacy groups. Addison said the concerns he hears most often relate to the company itself having access to the data. He noted that during a sales demonstration, a company representative ran searches but used only his own and other employees’ tags.

Addison framed the technology as part of a broader reality. “We live in a world where technology has created things that track us, phones, cars, cameras and others,” he said. “Flock is one of the things that, with legitimate law enforcement use, is an invaluable resource.”

Privacy advocates elsewhere have raised broader questions about how long data is kept, who can access it and whether a national camera network can be searched by agencies far from where the images were taken. Those questions have prompted lawsuits and policy reviews in other parts of the country, and a few communities in the Carolinas have scaled back or removed cameras after public debate.

In Laurens County, local agencies say the cameras remain in place as one of several tools they use to investigate crime and serve victims.