Full transcript
New at nine, the Rogers County town of
Inola could soon get automatic license
plate reading cameras called flock
cameras, just like the ones you see all
around Tulsa. Inola city councilors
voted 3 to2 last night to buy the camera
system. Fox 23's Paris Rain joins us
live in the newsroom after talking to
law enforcement and people in the
community about this
decision. That's right, Shay. The flock
camera discussion is one that many local
cities and counties are having. Rogers
County Sheriff Scott Walton says he's
happy with this decision because it
helps them in certain situations. While
others say they're on the fence or
they're against the cameras because
they're worried about their
privacy. I know city council decided
with the 3 to2 vote Monday to bring
flock cameras into town just two weeks
after they originally tabled the
discussion. There's no sound reason to
avoid this. We've got 50% of enough
people in law enforcement to protect
Rogers County adequately. Uh just don't
deny us a tool that we can use. Rogers
County Sheriff Scott Walton says he is
pleased with the decision because it's a
great help to law enforcement when
needed. We've had multiple uh incidents
where these have been useful to us in
law enforcement to catch bad guys. And
again, my question to anybody that's
opposed to this is just tell me whose
life has been ill affected by a license
plate reader and what means that they
would want if their loved one was in
danger, us to use, traditional or new
electronic surveillance. I went to Inola
to hear from the community on how they
feel about the new cameras. Are you
nervous to see them come in or are you
just still on the stance of either way?
Uh, yeah. I'm kind of I'm kind of on the
fence. Like I said, I need to I need to
look into exactly what they do with them
more, but I'm still kind of on the fence
about it. Kyle De lives in Iola and says
he still has some research to do, but
understands both sides. I don't feel
like it's really necessary to have in a
small town, but I understand why they
want it to because it kind of helps
protect it. But we're growing more than
I really like, but it happens, you know.
Uh so I I'm still kind of torn in
between on it. One Rogers County
resident who has been against flock
cameras is state representative Tom Gan
who represents Iola. He spoke with our
radio partner KRMG back in January. Does
that capture the tag and profile your
cars as they go down the road that and
and then what happens to that data?
Where's that data stored? Because if
they when they have your tag number,
when they have a profile of your vehicle
with all your bumper stickers on there
and everything, then h what are the
limitations on that? and how do we deal
with that?
I reached out to repres Representative
Gan's office to hear his reaction to the
Anila vote I know vote and I'll let you
know when I hear back. Live in the
newsroom covering news that matters.