Department representatives work to alleviate concerns about invasion of privacy
On a unanimous vote taken on Jan. 6, the Sarasota City commissioners approved a $339,250 agreement with a company called the Flock Group Inc. of Atlanta to broaden the ability of the Sarasota Police Department to track crime suspects through technology, including the use of license plate readers.
The vote did not come until after commissioners sought assurance from Police Department representatives that the technology would not be deployed in a manner that violates residents’ privacy.
The two-year contract will enable the agency to establish what it calls a Real-Time Operations Center.
The board members had discussed the program with Police Department personnel during their budget workshops last year.
Materials from the agency that were included in the backup agenda material explained, “The mission of a Real-Time Operations Center (ROC) is to leverage technology to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement response. This is accomplished through live monitoring of a myriad of law enforcement resources such as license plate readers, law enforcement databases, security cameras, and data analysis tools.”
A gunshot detection system will be part of the package, the formal Agenda Request Form for the Jan. 6 meeting pointed out.
Initially, a Police Department document noted, the program will be staffed with four civilian analysts, though the goal is to add more personnel in the future, to ensure coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The Police Department document added that the expense of the hardware and related equipment would be $51,892, while the software subscription would cost $345,500.
The expense per civilian analyst will be $73,281, the document also said, for a total of $293,126.
Worries about a ‘Big Brother’ situation
Although the item was listed as part of the routine business matters on one of the commission’s Jan. 6 Consent Agendas, Vice Mayor Debbie Trice had questions for representatives of the Police Department, based on an email that the board members had received. The writer had expressed concerns about potential abuse of the license plate readers, she said, in regard to drivers’ constitutional right to privacy.
“I’m imagining the whole ‘Big Brother’ issue,” Trice added, referring to George Orwell’s novel 1984.
“The Sarasota Police Department endeavors to uphold the Constitution of the United States” and the Florida Constitution, Capt. Demetri Konstantopoulos of the Support Services Division responded.
“Today,” he continued, “what we’re asking is not the authorization to purchase new cameras. This … really is an operating system contract with Flock,” the company from which the agency purchases the license plate readers.
In 2008, he said, the Police Department began using license plate readers, “so we do have a history with this. Those were mobile,” he explained. “Within the last three years,” Konstantopoulos added, “we have deployed 35 stationary license plate readers throughout the city. They’re all in public spaces …”
The equipment does not capture photos or videos of drivers, he pointed out.
Moreover, Konstantopoulos said, all officers who work with the license plate readers are required to undergo training, to ensure that they comply with the guidelines the Police Department has established for use of the equipment.
“The system also provides electronic audit tracks,” he noted, which shows who has used the equipment.
John Lake, the Police Department’s investigative technology administrator, who will manage the Real-Time Operations Center, added, “I believe there’s a little bit of misconception about license plate readers. They’re only used when you commit a crime, so the normal person driving down the road … might go by the camera 10 to 15 times per day. We don’t care about those people,” he stressed. “We only care when they commit a homicide; they break into your house,” or commit a theft. “That’s when we’re accessing the system. … We’re not tracking anybody,” he emphasized to the commissioners.
“If you’re not committing a crime,” Lake pointed out, “we’re never going to see your car.”
Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich thanked Lake and Konstantopoulos for addressing the privacy issue.
Then Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch said she understood that the license plate readers have “been used regularly by our partner cities,” when law enforcement officers are tracking a suspect’s vehicle that has left the city of Sarasota. “Is that correct?” she asked.
“Yes,” Lake replied.
The Police Department has memoranda of understanding with other agencies, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), to share data. However, he also stressed, that data sharing takes place “under the FDLE guidelines …” Representatives of other agencies, Lake added, “just can’t go into our data and look for stuff without a crime [as the basis for a search].”
Deputy City Manager Patrick Robinson, who had served with the Police Department since 2000, before former City Manager Marlon Brown appointed him to his current position in early 2021, reiterated Konstantopoulos’ earlier remark about the Police Department having used license plate readers since 2008.
To his knowledge, Robinson continued, “I do not believe we’ve ever encountered a successful litigation claim against us relative to the [license plate reader] system.”
The Sarasota Police Department coordinates with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office and the police departments of the Town of Longboat Key, the City of Bradenton, and the Cities of North Port and Venice, he said, to obtain data from their systems as needed.
“Criminals don’t know boundaries,” Robinson pointed out. “This [system] really breaks those boundaries down for those investigative efforts. … I can tell you, as a former homicide detective,” Robinson continued, “these [machines] are worth their weight in gold, as far as intel gathering and sharing is concerned. … I’ve been notified literally within 35 to 45 minutes of the location of a suspect vehicle out of our area,” even as far away as Orange County, he told the commissioners.
“It is an amazing, amazing tool,” Robinson added. Moreover, he stressed, “There are so many safeguards in place,” in the City of Sarasota, regionally and at the state level.
“I have been amazed at how quickly suspects have been apprehended after an accident,” Vice Mayor Trice responded, “and I’m gathering that it was thanks to this system.”
Trice ended up making the motion to approve the agreement with Flock, and Commissioner Kyle Battie seconded it.