PAWHUSKA, Okla. — Osage County is the largest county in the state but officials say it has a very limited law enforcement resources.
Now, the sheriff is looking to invest in Flock Safety cameras. Those cameras are linked through an information sharing network that claims to help to capture criminal activity.
The Beverly Hills Lake Estates II neighborhood is already using the cameras, and they say they've seen a huge reduction in crime.
Bruce Krefting lives there. He says he and his neighbors were initially concerned about being so far out in the country and away from law enforcement. So, they decided to invest in a deterrent.
“Before we got Flock, we had trailers stolen, bicycles stolen, porch pirates, petty theft and in the two years that we've had the Flock system, no crime at all,” he said.
The City of Tulsa has been using Flock Safety cameras for a while now, and officials said the cameras had a major impact on crime. Law enforcement said the cameras helped solve homicides, recover numerous stolen, vehicles and assisted in missing person’s cases.
"We've seen the success that Tulsa has had with the cameras, and so we've decided to implement the Flock cameras here to be a force multiplier for our law enforcement efforts,” says Lt. Gary Upton with Osage County.
Right now, the Osage County Sheriff’s Office has 18-20 deputies to cover the largest county in the state.
"The Flock camera, by saving the license plate information and saving the make and model of the car can help them solve the crime so that guy doesn't come back and get the next neighborhood or visit our neighborhood again,” says Krefting.
The goal is to purchase anywhere from 2 to 10 cameras initially.
"We’re buying the cameras that you can actually move around to different high crime locations and perhaps maybe get some targeted law enforcement out of it,” says Lt. Upton.
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office is working with area ranchers, HOA’s and the school district to purchase and place these cameras around the community.
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