By Dolly Butz
Sioux City Journal, Iowa
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Iowa – About a year ago, 35 cameras were installed on black poles along major roads in South Sioux City.
The cameras, which capture high-resolution images of the rear of vehicles and license plate data, are part of Flock Safety's License Plate Recognition (LPR) system.
Since the LPR cameras were deployed last April with City Council approval, police have located 20 stolen vehicles and assisted in three outside homicide investigations, including the fatal stabbing of a Dakota Dunes woman in August.
“In the end, providing information really helped us locate him,” police Lt. Jeanette McFee said of Alfredo Castellanos-Rosales.
The 39-year-old Sioux City man has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, contributing to the neglect of a child and contributing to the abuse of a child in connection with the April 25 stabbing of a 23-year-old Jordan Beardshear in her apartment at The Wellington at the Dunes Complex.
Flock Safety's LPR system allows South Sioux City police officers to use their laptops and cell phones to query identifying vehicle characteristics such as color, make, bumper sticker, top rack and pickup box. It also sends an alert to law enforcement if a “Hot List” vehicle is spotted in the area. The system utilizes the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a computerized registry of missing persons and criminal information.
“When a license plate is entered into NCIC and it passes one of these cameras, an internal system notifies us that the owner may have a search warrant or there may be a missing person in that vehicle,” McFee said.
“We’re not trying to be the big brother.”
Flock Safety's cameras, which are in use in more than 4,000 cities in 42 states, have come under fire from the American Civil Liberties Union, which has urged citizens to contact local elected officials and law enforcement to “respond to the “Put the brakes on.” Use of a so-called “nationwide mass surveillance system”.
“Such a system provides even small-town sheriffs with access to a comprehensive and powerful mass surveillance tool and allows large players such as federal agencies and large urban police departments to access the comings and goings of vehicles in even the smallest cities,” the ACLU said in a February 2023 report posted on its website.
South Sioux City Police Chief Ed Mahon said he has only heard from a few people who are concerned that “big brother” may be watching in South Sioux City. He said only one person he spoke to was “strongly against” the cameras.
“We’re not trying to be the big brother. We just want a different tool. We can make contact and get the information we really need for the worst crimes,” he said.
Mahon said Flock Safety's LPR system does not use facial recognition technology, the ability to match a human face from an image to a database of faces.
“It’s right behind the car,” he said of what the cameras capture. “Occasionally we get a front sign, but I don’t know if you can really identify someone based on the front.”
When searching through data collected by LPR cameras, officers must report what they are looking for, according to McFee. She said Nebraska state law requires searches to be related to criminal activity. She said the images captured by the cameras “disappeared” from a secure cloud server after 30 days.
“When I drive down the street as a patrol officer, I see all kinds of license plates. That’s what these cameras offer,” she said. “You won’t tell me whose car this is. I don't know that. I would have to do more research – check the license plate and do all that before I know what vehicle it is. If someone isn’t involved in a crime, I don’t look at their car.”
Crime fighting tool
Mahon said Flock Safety's solar and battery-powered LPR cameras are “a really good tool” for his department.
Even dispatchers have access to the internet-based system, which allows them to assist officers in locating a vehicle when an alert is received.
“I think there was a tremendous amount of interest from officials and a lot of activity. “It’s one of the high-tech items that officers use all the time,” Mahon said.
South Sioux City is leasing the camera system from Flock Safety for about $100,000 over two years. The American Rescue Plan Act funds cover the cost of the cameras, for which Flock Safety provides 24-hour technical support. Dakota County also has four LPR cameras.
“From my point of view, they worked very well. We found several missing cars. We have identified here the problems with murder cases that also occurred in other areas. We are excited to see it expand to cover many more cities throughout the county,” South Sioux City Administrator Lance Hedquist said of the Flock system. “I think it’s brilliantly done.”
Since the cameras were installed, McFee said the system has helped police locate six missing people entered into the NCIC, including a juvenile female who was found in an adult male suspect's vehicle. She said the cameras even led to the identification of people passing counterfeit bills in Sioux City and South Sioux City.
“We discovered that the vehicle was a rental vehicle and that in the last month it had traveled from Michigan to Iowa, through Illinois, Des Moines, Nebraska and back through Illinois and Wisconsin to Michigan. It is essentially a large counterfeiting ring that receives items containing these counterfeit bills at various stores,” McFee said. “We have nationwide access so we can search any agency that has a flock camera. I was able to search this particular vehicle by searching all of these areas.”
South Sioux City saw a 6.3% decrease in serious and violent crime and a 6.7% decrease in overall crime last year. Motor vehicle thefts fell nearly 44%, from 41 in 2022 to 23 in 2023. Mahon isn't sure if LPR cameras are contributing to that decline, but hopes they deter criminals.
“If we could afford it, I would like to double the number of cameras and really say, 'If you're going to do this, don't come here because we're going to do everything we can.' “Arrest you,” he said.
Are LPR cameras coming to Sioux City?
Last April, the Sioux City Council passed a resolution allowing South Sioux City to install two of its LPR cameras on the Iowa side of the Siouxland Veterans Memorial Bridge.
During a budget meeting on Feb. 17, Sioux City Councilwoman Julie Schoenherr asked Police Chief Rex Mueller if his department planned to use LPR cameras.
“Right now the state is sort of consolidating LPRs into ATE (Automated Traffic Enforcement), so we’re not sure where that’s going to go. We are monitoring it,” said Müller, mentioning that there are some private LPR cameras in use in the city. “Depending on how the automated traffic monitoring turns out, we think this is a positive resource. But what we're also looking at is that some of the automated traffic enforcement companies actually have LPR capabilities. So instead of just putting in LPR cameras, you have ATE cameras that can also provide that capability.”
Sioux City Police Capt. Ryan Bertrand told The Journal that the police department will ask the council for permission to apply for a Byrne JAG grant to fund the purchase of LPR cameras. He said police are working with the Woodbury County Sheriff's Office and the Tri-State Drug Task Force to apply for a grant that will total about $125,000. Bertrand said there are a half-dozen other LPR systems, but he said police have spent the most time researching the Flock Safety system.
“When it comes to quality, network, value for money and affordability, Flock fits the bill. It is a subscription-based service. Flock owns the camera, hardware and equipment. They maintain the equipment. “If the equipment breaks, there is no charge,” he said. “If every police department in the United States had a flock system, there would be an incredibly powerful intelligence network. Your crime fighting skills would be amazing.”
Bertrand said as few as 10 LPR cameras could have an impact on the city if placed in the right locations. Exactly how many cameras Sioux City could purchase is uncertain because grant funding is not guaranteed. Bertrand said the cameras would be installed in public places where everyone had the right to be.
“There are no concerns about the Fourth Amendment. There are no data protection concerns. The focus of license plate readers is on license plates. They don’t collect data 24/7. In that sense, they are not full-time security cameras,” said Bertrand, who he said more people now expect businesses and property owners to have working cameras. “People are actually adopting technology in this way. Most people want to be safe. They want to be protected.”
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