Jefferson County law enforcement officials say they have seen big dividends after investing in Flock license plate-reading camera systems.
Arnold Police Detective Cpl. Josh Wineinger recently logged into the Flock system when he was handed a felony case involving a driver who reportedly left the scene of an accident.
Initially he was told a maroon Subaru had hit a pickup parked outside the Local House Restaurant and Bar, 3946 Jeffco Blvd., at about 7:30 p.m. April 5.
Wineinger checked feeds from the city’s Flock cameras, which were installed in March, and couldn’t find a damaged Subaru traveling in the area around the time of the reported accident.
“I called a witness who worked at Local House, who said it was a red Mazda,” Wineinger said.
With the new knowledge, he adjusted his search parameters for the color and type of vehicle he was searching for during a narrow time frame. Within hours, he found Flock camera images of a red Mazda with no damage in the area and then more images of the same car a short time after the accident, except at that time, the car appeared to have a damaged headlight and front bumper.
The camera captured the car’s license plate, and Wineinger tracked down the driver using that information.
“I called to have him come in, and he goes, ‘I’m so sorry. I have insurance,’” Wineinger said. “He was a young man who was not thinking. I explained to the person whose truck was damaged that the driver is young, and he took a civil matter and turned it into a felony case by leaving.
“The victim was understanding. He said, ‘If he has valid insurance, I won’t prosecute.’ The victim was understanding and didn’t want to put a kid in jail for making a terrible decision. The kid was grateful. They are not all that easy. Some are more difficult.”
Flock
The system was developed by Flock Safety of Atlanta, Ga., in 2017, and the company has partnered with more than 2,000 law enforcement agencies to help reduce crime by more than 70 percent, according to Flock’s website, flocksafety.com.
License plate-reading cameras are leased by municipalities, businesses, schools, homeowner associations and law enforcement agencies, typically for $2,500 a year per camera. There also is an installation fee of $350 per camera.
Because of how cameras are positioned, images of drivers and passengers are not seen in the feed, just images of vehicles and license plates.
Wineinger said at least 33 Flock cameras are operating in Jefferson County. Those cameras are leased by either law enforcement agencies or private groups, such as homeowner associations or businesses.
He said a total of 10 cameras are in Arnold, with the Police Department leasing six of them, an Arnold subdivision leasing two and Lowe’s in Arnold leasing two.
Byrnes Mill Police began leasing four cameras in October 2022.
Two cameras are in Crystal City, said Capt. Mike Pruneau of the Crystal City Police Department, with a grant covering the cost to lease them.
Festus Police Chief Doug Wendel said his department had six cameras installed in 2022, and since then has added four more.
The Herculaneum Police Department began leasing four cameras in 2022, Chief Sharia Kyle said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office began leasing two cameras in March 2021 and added four more cameras this year, said Heather Baker-Missey, an intelligence analyst with the Sheriff’s Office.
“Our agency uses Flock on a daily basis in almost every case whether it’s a missing person or a leaving the scene or a stolen vehicle,” Baker-Missey said. “Not every case will be a success story, but it’s another tool for the department to use to aid in investigations.
“Flock has been an extremely valuable tool for our department. Our staffing is down by 9 percent, so we are able to utilize the Flock cameras to monitor high-crime areas. We are able to leverage technology to give us a fixed set of eyes to capture vehicle images for immediate dissemination or later follow up.”
Kyle said Herculaneum Police have used the Flock camera system to recover multiple stolen vehicles, apprehend an out-of-state fugitive and locate suspects from car cloutings – the practice of stealing items from unlocked vehicles.
“We utilize Flock multiple times a month to aid in all our investigations because even if they don’t hit our cameras, they are almost always hitting another agency’s Flock cameras,” she said. “That is the best part about the system.”
Wineinger said only law enforcement agencies have access to the recordings from Flock cameras, but business representatives, school officials and homeowner association members may contact their local agencies to request an officer look up images from a specific time if there is a crime in their area.
Wineinger said he has access to about 64 cameras throughout Jefferson County and the greater St. Louis area and many more throughout the country.
“A person was reported missing in Arnold,” he said. “The Flock system tracked him to Alabama. We were able to track him to an address and locate him. It was solved before a statewide silver alert could go out.”
More cameras
Arnold, Crystal City and the Sheriff’s Office are working to lease additional cameras.
The city of Arnold is applying for a grant to possibly add four cameras, Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll said.
Baker-Missey said the Sheriff’s Office anticipates adding five more stationary cameras and two portable cameras by the end of the summer thanks to a grant from the Department of Public Safety.
Representatives from the Arnold, Crystal City, Festus and Herculaneum police departments and the Sheriff’s Office said they constantly tell business owners and homeowners associations about the benefits of leasing Flock cameras.
“We plan on going to subdivision meetings to explain the benefits of Flock, and we are also having a team reach out to various businesses in town to see if they would be interested in getting on board,” Arnold Police Chief Brian Carroll said.
Baker-Missey said the Sheriff’s Office has investigated a number of cases that would have benefited from having Flock video to review.
“We frequently have conversations with victims about Flock cameras, as we investigate after the fact, and share with them the positive impacts,” she said. “Businesses and subdivisions would benefit from partnering with Flock now, rather than as a reaction to being a victim. Flock has a commercial division which solely works with businesses and subdivisions, and we would be happy to share our past successes with any interested entity.”