Commission Puts Flock Cameras Out to Pasture

Flock cameras, which have still been a very passionate issue for some in the county, were taken off the budget as a line item. Before the Full Court commenced, audience members were given time to speak to the Commissioners. One of the speakers had well over half the courtroom in applause by the end of her speech, calling for the flock camera removal. The Flock representative for White County tried to defend the system once again, clarifying that Flock does not capture any identifiable data about the vehicle owner, their address, or any personal information, out of, “This is the vehicle, this is the license plate number.”

Despite the Flock representative clarifying that data is purged every 30 days for all images and that agencies must give a valid reason in their audits, the Commissioners still voted against Flock due to the large number of voices against it.

Sheriff Page spoke first on the cameras, and in his opening statement, he said, “If he (Flock representative) cannot convince the citizens of this county that they are safe, then we will do whatever the commissioner will decide to do with them.”

When going over General Fund amendments, Commissioner TK Austin put a motion to amend the Sheriff’s fund to strike the LPRs from their fund and put that money towards other items in the Sheriff's Department. Commissioner Robert McCormick seconded the amendment. The motion passed with 8 votes yes, 3 votes no.

The commissioners who voted no for the removal of Flock cameras from the General Fund were Chris Brewington, Larry Daniels, and Roger Mason.

The commissioners who voted yes were TK Austin, Robert McCormick, Becky Golden, Cain Rogers, Derrick Hutchings, Lanny Selby, Kyle Goff, and Dakota White.

It should be noted that within the next year’s budget, while Flock Cameras as a line item have been removed, the money that was previously used for LPRs still exists within the Sheriff’s Department.