Flock cameras staying put in Arkadelphia, police chief says

By JOEL PHELPS | arkadelphian.com

While some Arkansas cities are reneging on a controversial means to conduct surveillance through Artificial Intelligence, Arkadelphia’s police chief says the Flock Safety camera system is here to stay.

Police departments in at least six Natural State municipalities have put a halt to their Flock systems, citing privacy concerns since the nationwide network has been at the center of attention on social media in recent weeks.

The Arkadelphia Police Department bought into the Flock network in 2024, when the city’s board of directors agreed to accept a grant covering the system’s installation and first two years of service. To date, seven of the eight cameras have been installed and are in working condition.

Asked if other cities’ decisions to pull out has swayed his stance on Flock cameras, Arkadelphia Police Chief Jason “Shorty” Jackson said he remains convinced that Flock cameras are simply “another tool in the toolbox” for law enforcement to catch bad guys. And, he said, they’re not going anywhere — at least not in Arkadelphia.

The chief said he has not heard any citizen complaints regarding Flock cameras, although he has read a few on social media. “But I’ve had several people express support [for Flock] personally,” Jackson added.

Since their installation, Flock cameras have helped APD and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office solve some felony crimes, notably a pair of very recent residential burglaries that occurred outside the city limits. Earlier this year, the system alerted police to a stolen vehicle it photographed in Arkadelphia, ultimately leading to a high-speed police chase that ended peacefully. 

Asked for an estimate on how many photos a single Flock camera captures in a single day in Arkadelphia, Jackson did not know, although he did say APD receives about one “hit” per week from the system. However, he said, neither patrol officers nor detectives are idly waiting for Flock to do their regular police work.

“We’re not using this for traffic enforcement,” Jackson noted. “The patrol division does receive alerts. So if a vehicle passes a camera stolen or has a [National Crime Information Center] level warrant attached to it, they will be alerted, and can see a photo of the vehicle, the license plate and the last location of the vehicle.”

Five of the department’s top brass — the chief, three detectives, and its drug task force agent — have search access to the Flock database. APD has federal searches excluded in its settings, specifically immigration services, Jackson said. “I’ve yet to see ICE here searching for anyone,” he told The Arkadelphian.

Proponents argue that Flock cameras will be most beneficial when it comes to catching child abductors. To date, APD hasn’t used its Flock cameras to stop a child abduction reported in the city or elsewhere, Jackson said.

Aside from privacy concerns, opponents contend that Flock opens itself to abuse by police officers who could stalk the movements of their partners or exes. Jackson said Flock is no different than state or federal databases, which he said have been abused since that technology became available. “Our user instructions to our own department are hopefully thorough enough to eliminate those types of problems,” he said.

The chief pointed out that, in response to the nationwide backlash over the company’s data collection, Flock in recent days shortened its data retention policy from 30 days to 7. Jackson added that APD’s policy requires detectives to narrow their search as much as possible concerning the offense they’re investigating. For example, the chief himself searched the system this past weekend following a report from Southwest Auto Collection that a vehicle had been stolen from their lot. “I searched only our cameras first, specifically for unlicensed vehicles of that make and model before expanding the search timeframe and to surrounding jurisdictions using Flock cameras,” Jackson said. Ultimately, the Flock search was fruitless.

Jackson reiterated that APD’s policy requires for a search to be associated with a specific reported incident. “We’re not going to search for a random Chevrolet pickup just because it’s Wednesday,” he said. “We’re trying to protect the people we serve when they have been the victim of a crime.”