FLOCK SAFETY CAMERA POLICY
433.1 PURPOSE AND SCOPE
The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office authorizes the use of FLOCK SAFETY cameras for law
enforcement and community safety purposes. These devices gather and analyze the data to
enable the rapid identification and location of vehicles and persons of legitimate interest to law
enforcement. The FLOCK SAFETY camera used by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office to
convert data associated with vehicle license plates for official law enforcement purposes, including
identifying stolen or wanted vehicles, stolen license plates, Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts, and
Missing/Endangered Persons.
The purpose of this policy is to establish guidelines for the use, management, and operation
of FLOCK SAFETY cameras by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office. The Skamania County
Sheriff’s Office is committed to utilizing FLOCK SAFETY cameras to enhance community safety,
deter and solve crimes, maintain public trust, and support the overall mission of the Skamania
County Sheriff’s Office.
433.1.1 FLOCK SAFETY FALCON (LPR)
The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office employs the use of the FLOCK SAFETY FALCON, a license
plate reader (LPR). It is a system consisting of a camera and related equipment. The LPR camera
automatically, and without direct human control, locate, focus on, and photograph vehicles and
license plates that come into range of the FLOCK SAFETY camera device. The LPR cameras
capture a contextual photo of the vehicle, an image of the license plate, the geographic coordinates
of where the image was captured, and the date and time of the recording. The LPR devices capture
images of a vehicles rear license plate and transforms that image into alphanumeric characters.
That data is then compared to official local. state, and federal database records, and alerts are
delivered to authorized law enforcement users when a license plate of interest has been detected.
The LPR system does not intentionally identify any individual or conduct facial recognition analysis.
It shall not be used by SCSO staff for the purpose of tracking speed or parking violations,
monitoring 1st Amendment expressive activity through its analysis of license plate characters. The
data captured by the LPR unit itself is entirely anonymous. Deputies can only identify the registered
owner of a vehicle by querying a separate, secure government database of vehicle license plate
records, which is registered and controlled by state law and agency policy. The queries will also
by audited to determine that the system is being used correctly.
433.2 DEFINITIONS
Detection: The FLOCK SAFETY camera system identifies and captures images of vehicle license
plates as they pass through the camera’s field of view. This process includes the automated
recognition and recording of license plate numbers, vehicle characteristics, and the associated
date, time, and location data. Detection enables the system to document and store information
about vehicles for future analysis and investigation.
Flock Safety Camera Users: Authorized Agency members (users) who may utilize the LPR
camera system/equipment. Users may consist of sworn and non-sworn personnel. Prior to using
the LPR system, operators must complete agency authorized training.
Hit: Alert from the LPR system that a scanned license plate number may be in the National Crime
Information Center (NCIC) or other law enforcement database for a specific reason including,
but not limited to, being related to a stolen vehicle, wanted person, missing/endangered person,
criminal domestic violence investigation, or terrorist-related activity.
Hot List: A list of license plates associated with vehicles of interest compiled from one or more
data bases including, but not limited to, NCIC, WACIC, local wanted subjects, Amber Alerts, and
Silver Alerts, etc. Vehicles of interest may include, but are not limited to, vehicles reported stolen,
displaying stolen license plates, linked to missing/endangered and wanted persons, or flagged
by law enforcement agencies due to association with criminal investigations or community safety
concerns.
433.3 AUTHORIZED PURPOSES, COLLECTIONS, AND USE OF FLOCK SAFETY
CAMERA DATA
In support of the mission of the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office law enforcement personnel, who
are ACCESS certified, may use FLOCK SAFETY cameras for conducting criminal investigations
or investigating community safety concerns. This includes, but is not limited to:
(a) Locating missing children and elderly individuals or other that are vulnerable/
endangered, including those associated with Amber, Silver, and Missing Indigenous
Person Alerts.
(b) Locating vehicles that are stolen, wanted, or subject of a criminal investigation.
(c) Locating witnesses and victims of violent crimes.
(d) Purposes related to training FLOCK SAFETY users.
(e) Supporting local, state, federal, and tribal community safety agencies in the
identification of vehicles and/or persons associated with criminal investigations,
including investigations of serial crimes.
433.4 RESTRICTIONS ON COLLECTION OF FLOCK SAFETY CAMERA DATA AND USE
OF CAMERA SYSTEMS
All employees of the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office, including commissioned deputies and
civilian personnel, shall abide by the policies and procedures related to the FLOCK SAFETY
cameras as set forth in this policy. Employees of the Sheriff’s Office are prohibited from using
FLOCK SAFETY camera technology in the following circumstances:
(a) All employees shall not use FLOCK SAFETY cameras for non-work-related purposes
or otherwise operate the FLOCK SAFETY camera outside of their assigned and
legitimate law enforcement duties.
(b) FLOCK SAFETY cameras may be used to collect data that is within public view but
will not be used for the sole purpose of monitoring individual or expressive activities
protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
(c) FLOCK SAFETY camera shall not be used to investigate or issue infractions.
(d) In no case shall the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office’s FLOCK SAFETY cameras
be used for any purpose other than legitimate law enforcement or community safety
purposes.
(e) Users will not target any persons based on their actual or perceived age, color, creed,
criminal history, disability, ethnic background, gender, gender expression or identity,
lifestyle, marital status, national origin, political affiliation or beliefs, race, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, as defined by RCW 49.60.040 , social or economic status, to the
extent permitted by law, alienage or citizenship status, or any legally protected class.
(f) Without another clearly articulated nexus to criminal activity associated with
Washington State Law, FLOCK SAFETY cameras shall not be used to specifically
target or track the movement of vehicles traveling to or from healthcare facilities,
including, but not limited to hospitals, clinics, mental health providers, or reproductive
health care centers. This restriction applies irrespective of the vehicle’s origin,
destination, or the medical services sought by the individuals.
433.5 ACCOUNTABILITY AND SAFEGUARDS
All saved data associated with FLOCK SAFETY cameras will be encrypted and stored using CJIS
standards. The information will be safeguarded and protected by clear policies and procedures
that dictate when and how the data can be used. The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office will observe
the following regarding access, use, and dissemination of stored data:
(a) All FLOCK SAFETY camera data shall be accessible only through an employee’s
unique login and password. The system documents all access of LPR information by
name, date, time, and reason for access.
(b) All non-law enforcement requests for access to stored FLOCK SAFETY camera data
shall be referred to the public disclosure manager and processed in accordance with
applicable law.
(c) FLOCK SAFETY camera data may be released to other authorized and verified law
enforcement officials and agencies when the information is used for legitimate law
enforcement purposes.
(d) FLOCK SAFETY camera system audits should be conducted on a periodic basis, but
no less than once a year. A report on the audit will be forwarded to the Skamania
County Sheriff or designee, for review.
(e) To the extent possible, vehicle and subject information associated with LPR hits
will be verified through separate law enforcement information sources to confirm
the information is accurate, up to date, and supports any related contact with the
public. Users of LPR data must, to the extent possible, visually confirm that the plate
characters generated by the LPR readers correspond with the digital image of the
license plate in question and query the plate through WACIC/NCIC to ensure the LPR
user is relying on accurate information.
(f) When searching for vehicles, FLOCK SAFETY camera users will enter the case
number, and a reason for the search. If there is no case number associated with the
search, users will clearly articulate the law enforcement or community safety reason
for the search.
433.6 FLOCK SAFETY CAMERA SYSTEM AUDITS
All access and use of FLOCK SAFETY camera data is logged and stored according to the
Washington State Law Enforcement Records Retention Schedule. It will be audited to ensure the
system is being used as outlined in this policy. Audit reports contain, at a minimum:
(a) Ten (10) randomly selected inquiries.
(b) A case number or incident number associated with the investigative effort generating
the query.
(c) The date and time of access.
(d) The name of the agency employing the user.
(e) The name of the law enforcement user.
(f) The specific data accessed.
The FLOCK SAFETY Camera Administrators shall conduct periodic, documented audits of LPR
Detection Browsing Inquiries conducted by FLOCK SAFETY users, to ensure compliance with
this policy. These audits will occur annually.
433.7 FLOCK SAFETY CAMERA DATA COLLECTION AND RETENTION
All FLOCK SAFETY camera data uploaded to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office digital
evidence management server shall be stored according to the Washington State Law Enforcement
Records Retention Schedule. Data and images will only be shared as outlined in this policy or
required by law or court rules.
(a) All non-law enforcement requests for access to stored FLOCK SAFETY camera data
shall be processed in accordance with applicable law and court rules.
(b) FLOCK SAFETY stored data (data hosting) and ensures proper maintenance and
security of data. FLOCK SAFETY purges this data after thirty (30) days of storage,
and it is not recoverable. Data related to criminal investigations or community safety
concerns located within the 30-day storage period can be uploaded by Sheriff’s Office
employees to its digital evidence storage.
(c) Images and videos that are considered evidence will be stored in accordance with
agency policies and procedures.