Continued concerns about privacy and artificial intelligence are a priority for the Whitman County Sheriff’s Department and the City of Pullman.
On August 21, the Whitman County Sheriff’s Department announced on Facebook that all Flock cameras will be disabled due to community complaints.
Meanwhile on August 21, the City Of Pullman addressed rumors circulating on social media that there was a Flock camera on the corner of Grand Avenue and Southwest Mackenzie street, stating the device was a crossing walk beacon. The city has no current plans to install Flock cameras and there are none in Pullman.
City of Pullman Communications Coordinator Meghan Ferrin said she became aware of the concerns late at night on August 20, but the city does not post in the middle of the night except in the case of emergency, so the clarification was posted the next morning.
Washington State University property is not under the city’s jurisdiction, but the Washington State University Police Department clarified that there are no cameras on campus.
Outside of Pullman, Whitman County Sheriff Brett Myers said he was not aware there would be pushback from residents when Flock cameras were installed in Colfax.
The department first started looking into installing Flock cameras three years ago in order to help find missing persons or solve major crimes like stolen vehicles, Myers said. The purpose of the cameras was added security rather than to intrude on residents’ privacy.
“There hasn’t really been any great concern or kickback during that time. And so we had a little grant money about a year ago became available,” he said. “We just decided, hey, we want a couple cameras in Colfax. We are not looking to track anyone.”
Serving the public and listening to their needs is important to Myers.
“I think we’ve had a very solid, trustful relationship with our community for decades,” he said. “A few flock cameras is not worth breaking that trust.”
Privacy is also important to the City of Pullman, Ferrin said.
“The city is really concerned about, you know, our community’s privacy,” she said. “So everything we do that has privacy concerns, from online billing for utilities to permitting, and you know, permitting billing and things like that, we do everything that we can to follow the law on keeping things private.”
Installing Flock cameras would require approval from city council, she said, and there would be a period for public comment.
“There’s no consideration at the moment,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean that no city council in the future will ever consider putting in some sort of camera like this.”
For the disabled Flock cameras in Colfax, Myers did not disclose the exact locations, but said they first became operational during the start of the summer. The location of the cameras was not set in stone to one place, but could change.
Myers understands concerns about privacy. He does not believe in big government and does not like the idea of a “big brother” looking over.
While the Whitman County Sheriff’s Department was not using the cameras for tracking citizens or other nefarious purposes, he said, he understands that these cameras have been misused in other places.
“I think some of the concerns are valid,” Myers said. “We had very tight regulations, so officers, line level officers couldn’t enter the information. They couldn’t search the information. They could only receive it as it was pushed to them.”
Besides a lack of Flock cameras, The City of Pullman also does not use cameras to ticket running a red light, for artificial intelligence purposes or license plate tracking, Ferrin said.
0 Comments