A rural Burlington County town is considering a one-year ban on Flock cameras
Shamong Township will hold a public hearing on the proposed ban on Oct. 6.
As concerns about surveillance cameras mount nationwide, Shamong Township is taking steps to limit the use of Flock cameras and other automated license plate readers.
Shamong Mayor Michael Di Croce introduced an ordinance Tuesday that would establish a one-year moratorium on automated license plate readers and other vehicle surveillance technology on township rights-of-way and on township-owned property.
Flock cameras capture the license plates and other vehicle features, like bumper stickers or dents, of each passing car and compiles them into a searchable database.
“Flock cameras basically create a surveillance system for people who have done nothing wrong,” Di Croce said at Tuesday’s township committee meeting.
“I am opposed and I hope that my fellow committee members will agree that we don’t need to create another surveillance system that tracks people and where they’re going,” he said, noting that location data is already collected through E-ZPass and cell phone GPS.
“We should not create a permanent or searchable record of where law-abiding residents drive merely because they happen to pass a government camera or in the case of Flock, private-entity cameras,” he said.
Di Croce also referenced recent high-profile issues surrounding Flock cameras including law enforcement misuse and system errors that led to a driver who was wrongfully pulled over and detained at gunpoint as even more reason to be wary of the technology.
“I’m not opposed to technology that helps the police solve crimes,” Di Croce said. “I’m opposed to turning Shamong into a surveillance community without demonstrating that the benefits outweigh the cost, violating our privacy implications with the potential for misuse and the loss of local control over our residents’ data.”
Shamong is not alone in its concerns about the use of surveillance technology.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has “real concerns” about Flock cameras and is open to considering a statewide ban on the technology, a spokesperson said this week.
In Montgomery County last month, Abington police decided not to renew their contracts with Flock after thousands of the department’s searches were leaked.
The ordinance is “just a statement that we don’t want these cameras in Shamong and we’re not going to have them on any township property,” Di Croce said.
Residents can weigh in on the proposed ordinance before the committee votes on its adoption on Oct. 6 at the Shamong Municipal Building.
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