By admin 
The spread of automated license-plate reading cameras across the country has raised concerns about mass surveillance and potential abuse from privacy advocates. Now one South Carolina county has voted to do away with the cameras entirely.
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Oconee County Council gave initial approval Tuesday to a measure that would ban the use of the cameras produced by Atlanta-based Flock Safety or other vendors used to photograph residents’ cars as they drive around the county.
The 4-1 vote in the Upstate county makes Oconee the first in the state to put limits on the use of the technology, FOX Carolina reported after the council meeting.
“The question isn’t whether or not Flock can help solve crime. It can,” said Councilman Thomas James. “The question is what limits should be on the government’s ability to use it.”
The new rule could shake up law enforcement in South Carolina’s westernmost county of 78,000, located just across Lake Hartwell from Clemson.
Oconee’s ordinance prohibits county funding for the cameras, bans them from county property and even threatens to without some county funds from municipalities using them, the Post and Courier reports.
Citizens largely spoke in favor of the ban at a public hearing before Tuesday’s vote in Walhalla. But the move was not without opposition. Councilman John Elliott was the sole vote against the measure.
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“Flock cameras are used for public safety,” Elliott said. “Therefore, I’ll be voting no.”
Flock is the most commonly used brand of cameras that many law enforcement agencies now use to record the license plate numbers and body types of cars as they pass through certain intersections. The cameras are networked with other agencies that use the cameras across the country, and supporters of the technology say it’s helped police solve crimes and make arrests because they could identify and track suspects’ vehicles.
Only a week earlier, Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw had touted Flock cameras’ usefulness to a county committee.
“We don’t know who’s passing by these cameras every day — unless a crime is committed,” Crenshaw said, according to Upstate Today. “My requirement is that there has to be a case number, which means we have to have a report on file.”
The sheriff said Oconee County has five of the cameras, which he pays $3,000 annually to use. Nineteen other cameras around the county are operated by municipal police departments or private owners, Crenshaw said.
Tuesday’s vote may lead to similar action in other parts of the state where the technology has been contentious. Last week, two Flock cameras in Irmo were vandalized when the cameras were covered with a foam sealant spray. The town council had previously agreed to a $400,000 contract with Flock to triple the number of license-plate readers in town from 11 to 33.
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