BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — The debate over Flock-brand automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras will likely not end in Bartlesville after its April 7 city council meeting, which resulted in regulations passed on their current use.
Law enforcement personnel around Green Country make it clear they believe the pricey cameras help them find bad guys and should be here to stay.
- Previous coverage >>> Sand Springs boasts crime-fighting traffic cameras
Bartlesville currently has ten spread around town. But with growing polarization to their use, the city council presented two main options April 7: regulate and limit their uses and data sharing as proposed by Councilor Aaron Kirkpatrick, or hold a city charter amendment election to ban the cameras, as Councilor Tim Sherrick brought forth. However, Mayor Jim Curd and Kirkpatrick went back and forth with Sherrick before Sherrick's motion was voted down.
The divided views and reactions brought more than one hundred residents to the council chambers, dozens of whom waited in the hallway outside also in protest of an eventually-tabled vote on managing or punishing unhoused individuals in the city.
With all considerations, the council decided to adopt Kirkpatrick's amendment for the Flock cameras with an amendment to disallow any added features of the cameras without prior approval by the council.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
