LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) --Â More cameras are coming to keep an eye on you and crime in your neighborhood.
Metro Council is chipping in $113,000 for 17 new Flock cameras for the Louisville Metro Police Department's Seventh Division — which covers the Fern Creek, Highview and Okolona neighborhoods in the southern part of Jefferson County.
The city has invested heavily in Flock cameras over the years. The digital license plate reading cameras can read dozens of plates every minute, cross-reference the numbers with crime databases and alert law enforcement to stolen vehicles, wanted fugitives and more.Â
But some residents say it feels like an overreach.
"I think it should be regulated," said Eddie, a resident who didn't want to provide his last name but is concerned about the new cameras in his area of town.
Right now, LMPD has access to well over 100 Flock cameras. But leaders hope to have more than 200 of the cameras around the city soon.
The cameras are constantly scanning the road for cars and license plates entered into a database, and an alarm is generated when a car is picked up.
"You keep up with people, you know, and it helps with crime and stuff like that," Maggie McDowell told WDRB.Â
McDowell lives in the area where the new cameras are expected to be placed.Â
"I think it would be a great idea, a great deterrent against crime to help keep the community safer, so I'm all for it," she said Tuesday.
Last month, Metro Council approved nearly $200,000 in funding to install more of the cameras. The city said there are 136 Flock cameras in use right now throughout the city, with another 111 scheduled to be installed, including 28 cameras that will be paid for with $117,100 budgeted by Metro Council.
In April, a Flock representative told WDRB the information collected by the cameras is deleted every 30 days and that the company doesn't share or sell the information, which is owned by LMPD.Â
As the city blankets the streets with these cameras, not everyone is comfortable with the eye in the sky.
"You know, I don't think you should go crazy with them and put them everywhere just because you want to," said Eddie.
LMPD said they have gotten some good results from the Flock cameras. McDowell said that with the current crime in the city, something has to be done to slow things down.
"I don't think it is over, the way things are going in our community we definitely need some things in place to keep us all safer," she said.
Previous Coverage:Â
- Louisville approves nearly $200,000 to purchase new Flock cameras
- 'Gamechanger' | Flock cameras helping Louisville police prevent crime, solve investigations
- Louisville councilman makes push for automated speed cameras along residential city streets
- City report shows Friday is the busiest night for car thieves in Louisville, some caught on camera
- Cameras, cellphone activity lead to suspect's arrest for fatal shooting at Indiana casino
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