By admin 
York County Sheriff Tony Breeden is touting the effectiveness of the department’s Flock license plate readers, and promised transparency with the community on how the cameras are utilized.
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In a two-minute video posted on the sheriff’s office Facebook page on Tuesday, Breeden said the cameras are an ample crime-fighting tool, saying that citizens who have not committed wrongdoing should not be worried about the cameras.
“We just felt it was time to address as a whole what Flocks are and how we’re using them,” Breeden said in the video.
Breeden said the department’s cameras have helped solve over 250 cases, including 27 car break-ins, an armed robbery at a Burger King and a July 2025 homicide at Lake Wylie.
“Our main priority at the York County Sheriff’s Office is to protect the county, and we’re going to use these tools to continue to protect the county,” he said.
The video had over 5,000 likes and 8,300 comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
Breeden said he also wanted to clear up misconceptions about Flock. He said the sheriff’s office doesn’t watch cameras in real-time, and there are restrictions on which officers can access camera data.
He said the county is in the process of adding a “Flock Transparency Portal,” which shows a department’s policies and camera usage statistics.
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“One of the number one things we want to do is remain as transparent as possible while also protecting the county,” he said.
What are Flock cameras?
Flock manufactures automatic license plate readers, which use artificial intelligence to collect vehicle data and license plates.
The Atlanta-based company has partnered with over 5,000 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates there are between 90,000 to 100,000 Flock license plate reader cameras in the country.
The York County Council most recently approved the $51,000 purchase of eight additional Flock cameras in March 2023.
Critics of the cameras call them an invasion of privacy and an infringement of civil liberties.
Police officers have been accused of misusing the cameras to track people, and false Flock hits have led to people being held at gunpoint or jailed. Two police officers in Greer, S.C., were fired this month on allegations of misusing Flock cameras.
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Staff writer John Marks contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and may be updated.