LAFAYETTE, IN — Fifty Flock Safety cameras are spread throughout Tippecanoe County, with the lion's share of those devices set up in Lafayette.
The cameras, which photograph vehicles as they pass by and store the images in a cloud database for 30 days, have been in operation since 2024, according to Lafayette's contract with the company, Flock Safety. The contract is scheduled to expire at the end of 2028.
But Greater Lafayette residents who spoke out during Monday night's city council meeting are requesting the city terminate its contract early.
Kenny Bright, a Lafayette resident, said he believes the use of Flock Camera violates the Fourth Amendment, which protects residents from unreasonable searches and seizures.
"This amendment is why police need a warrant to access cellular data that reveals location history or to place a GPS tracker in a suspect's vehicle. It's not about how this information is obtained, it's the nature of the information that's obtained that constitutes the search," Bright said. "The history of a person's movements, where and when they go to work, where they take their kids to school, their chosen place of worship, where they shop for groceries, whose houses they visit regularly, how often they go to the doctor. All this information paid for with my tax dollars provided to a private company for them to sell to whomever they feel like without my consent."
But Lafayette Police Chief Scott Galloway said that is not how the cameras are used. The cameras capture a picture only of the vehicle's license plate and do not capture identities or other details about the driver.
Copyright © 2026 www.jconline.com