LMPD keeps FLOCK camera locations secret despite pressure to release information

LOUISVILLE, Ky (WDRB) -- The location is a secret — and Metro police want to keep it that way.

Louisville Metro Police gave some members of Metro Council a private rundown on how the department manages its network of FLOCK license plate–reading cameras, but where those cameras are placed across the city remains off-limits to the public.

WDRB’s Richard Essex found that LMPD is fighting to keep those details confidential.

"This is a FLOCK camera," Essex reported while standing near 10th and Jefferson, one of the few confirmed sites. "LMPD does not want you to know where all of their FLOCK cameras are around the city."

There’s another camera at 27th and Broadway, mounted in front of a grocery store in a high-traffic area. The criteria for selecting locations, however, are not a mystery.

"A lot of the locations are chosen based on violent crime statistics, auto theft hotspots, and major roadways — including interstate on- and off-ramps — as well as the infrastructure needed to install a camera," LMPD Deputy Chief Emily McKinley said.

Earlier this month The Kentucky Attorney General sided with LMPD to not release the locations of certain cameras. The department claims if the locations are disclosed a "complete overhaul of the camera system would be required" and the cameras would "need to be relocated each time the locations were made public."

When some of these locations were made public, the cameras were almost immediately destroyed costing taxpayers thousands of dollars and rendering them useless, said Anthony Piagentini, (R) Metro Council District 19

The department stores footage from its FLOCK network for 30 days, though other law enforcement agencies retain similar data for even longer. Two bills in the Kentucky General Assembly could soon change that — one would cap data retention at 90 days, and another would ban license plate–reading cameras entirely.

Despite the controversy, police say the cameras work. Wednesday morning LMPD used FLOCK data to track down a stolen car and arrest two suspects within hours.

"This technology made two arrests very safely, recovered some firearms, and got that vehicle back to its owner," Deputy Chief McKinley said.

The department currently has access to about 400 privately owned FLOCK cameras and 250 of its own. But as the technology expands, balancing public safety with privacy is shaping up to be one of LMPD’s biggest challenges yet.

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