Bloomington PD ran 9,000 searches on Flock cameras as privacy concerns rise

Bloomington police tapped their Flock license-plate-reader network about 9,000 times last year — or about 25 times per day, on average — a level that underscores the system’s investigative value, but also the public’s growing unease over potential abuses and fears of being swept into a dystopian web of surveillance.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office did not have numbers for last year but a spokesman said deputies accessed the county's network 279 times in January, or about nine times per day.

How Bloomington Police and sheriff’s deputies use Flock to solve crimes

Bloomington Police Chief Mike Diekhoff and Lt. Col. Randy Jacobs, of the sheriff's office, said their networks — 12 cameras in Bloomington and six more in the county — along with access to a network of tens of thousands of Flock cameras nationwide — have helped law enforcement personnel work cases faster and have allowed them to solve crimes they otherwise might not have.

For example, BPD officers last year knew the license plate of someone who had abducted a local child, entered the plate number into the system and got a hit in southern Indiana. State police officers found the vehicle, which crashed into a bridge, but police got the child back safely.

Diekhoff said without Flock cameras, police would not have been able to find the vehicle as quickly.