NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. — The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is changing the company behind some of its automated license plate reader cameras, but the move is not expected to increase the number of cameras operating across the county.
Public records show the Sheriff’s Office has submitted permitting plans for license plate reader cameras along the State Road 54 corridor from New Port Richey to Wesley Chapel.
Watch report from Erik Waxler
Undersheriff Chase Daniels says the cameras are replacing existing Flock cameras with technology made by Axon.
“We have an existing agreement with Axon. They actually provide our body-worn cameras, our Tasers, and our evidence management system,” Daniels said. “So on top of being easier to integrate with our existing systems, they are also about $50,000 cheaper than the Flock cameras that we currently have.”
Pasco County has about 170 cameras in all when you factor in those on private property, including store parking lots and subdivisions.
The cameras capture vehicles and license plates, allowing deputies to search for vehicles connected to criminal investigations, missing people and other cases.
But the technology has also raised privacy concerns nationwide over how the information is collected, stored and shared.
“We do understand the privacy concerns and we are certainly cognizant of that and we’ve adopted policies that protect that,” Daniels said.
Pasco Sheriff's Office policies include retaining the data for 30 days and restricting its use to specific types of cases, including missing people and felonies.
Jeff Cannon, a Pasco County resident who has spent months researching ALPR technology and agreements between law enforcement agencies and camera companies, said he remains concerned about how the data can be used.
“I think people are finally starting to wake up to the fact that these tag reader cameras store information that can be used beyond the agreement that we have the sheriff’s office,” Cannon said.
Cannon points to language in Pasco County’s agreement with Flock that he says raises questions about the company’s ability to use data.
“Right there in the agreement, they are giving Flock the permission to use the data, and the Sheriff’s Office response to that clause is it’s in there so that we can share information interagency with other agencies,” Cannon said.
Daniels said he is aware of the language in the contract but said Pasco’s policies still control how the Sheriff’s Office uses the information.
“I’m aware of that language in the contract. If we set our policy at 30 days and another local sheriff’s office needs to access that, they have to follow our policies. Our 30 day standard,” Daniels said.
Pasco is not the only local law enforcement agency changing its camera technology.
New Port Richey Police Chief Robert Kochen said the city is also switching companies for its camera programs. The city plans to use RedSpeed Technologies for red-light cameras and new school-zone speed cameras. License plate reading technology will be part of both systems.
The police department hopes those programs will be operational in October.
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