By Michele Owen—
MUNCIE, IN— Today, the Muncie Police Department and City of Muncie announce the deployment of 22 automated license plate reading (ALPR) cameras intended to solve and reduce violent crime. The cameras are built by Flock Safety, a public safety technology company that helps neighborhoods, communities, and law enforcement work together to fight crime.
Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour and Police Chief Nate Sloan will present more information about the ALPR system, including details on how it works, the policies guiding its use, and an ALPR Transparency Portal, at tonight’s Dream with Dan Forum held at the Muncie Innovation Connector at 1208 W. White River Blvd, Muncie, IN 47303. Dream with Dan will begin at 6 p.m., and will be livestreamed on Facebook. The public is encouraged to submit questions either in person or online.
The Flock Safety system helps law enforcement investigate crime by providing objective, unbiased evidence — license plates and vehicle characteristics. The ALPR cameras send a real-time alert to law enforcement when a stolen car or known wanted suspect from a state or national crime database enters the jurisdiction, as well as a vehicle associated with a missing person in an AMBER or Silver Alert.
The Flock Safety system is used by over 100 other agencies in Indiana, including several neighboring agencies, like Madison County Sheriff’s Office and other county agencies, and Indianapolis Metro Police Department. Agencies are able to share camera access and information directly with each other to help solve cross-jurisdictional crime more effectively.
The ALPR cameras will be used by Muncie Police to solve and reduce property and violent crime. They are not intended for minor traffic or parking violations, do not capture speed, and use will be guided by a publicly-available ALPR policy.
“MPD is committed to keeping our neighbors safe, and that means using the best resources we can access,” said Chief Sloan. “What was attractive about Flock Safety was their strict guidelines on protecting citizen privacy, their data security protocols, and the transparency features built into the product.”
Flock Safety ALPR cameras are in use in 2,000+ cities across the country, helping solve hundreds of crimes each day. Law enforcement have reported crime reductions of up to 70% when deploying Flock Safety in their communities.
“At Flock Safety, we believe in building strong bonds between police departments and the citizens they pledge to protect, and we’re proud to partner with Muncie Police Department to help them in the pursuit of public safety,” said Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety.
About Flock Safety
Flock Safety is a public safety operating system that helps communities and law enforcement in thousands of cities work together to eliminate crime, protect privacy, and mitigate bias. We build devices that capture objective evidence and use machine learning to detect and deliver unbiased investigative leads to law enforcement. Flock Safety communities have reported crime reductions of up to 70 percent.
