Warren council gets quick course on cameras
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WARREN -- Detective Michael Altiere and several top Warren police supervisors provided a quick course to members of the Warren City Council police and fire committee Thursday on the ways the department uses its Flock cameras and ways that it doesn't.
The reason for the presentation was that when City Council was asked to approve payment of $42,000 to renew the police department's contract with Flock at its Sept. 9 meeting, Rucker said she felt she needed a more in-depth understanding of how it works first.
The payment was tabled, and a committee meeting was scheduled to discuss it. At the end of Thursday's meeting, Councilman Michael O'Brien said the matter will return to the council agenda at the first meeting in October.
Altiere led off with an overview, saying Warren uses a limited amount of the technology Flock offers -- fixed cameras on poles. "When a vehicle drives by, it takes a snapshot of the overall view of the vehicle and that license plate," he said. The license plate then becomes "searchable."
He said when a Warren police officer opens the Flock software, he or she "does not see every single (license) plate that comes through." But the officer will see vehicles that are entered into the LEADS (Law Enforcement Automated Data System)."
So, for instance, if a person who owns the vehicle has an active arrest warrant, Flock will notify officers of the location where the vehicle drove through, Altiere said. Officers will also get an alert on someone entered as missing or things entered into LEADS such as stolen vehicles. Officers can see that information on a web-based portal or a phone app.
A search function is available for the Warren Police Department to use for investigative purposes. It can be for Warren cameras, statewide cameras or national cameras.
The Warren Flock administrators, Altiere and supervisors captains Rob Massucci and Bryan Holmes and Sgt. Eric Laprocina, have disabled the national search, Altiere said.
The biggest reason they would enable it is for missing persons cases. They would temporarily enable that function if they believe the person is in a vehicle and out of state, especially if police feel there is a reason to "find that person fast," Altiere said. The "default" is for searches in the city. He said officers can search by make, model and color or a bumper sticker.
Another feature is a "custom hot list," which would be, for instance, when someone calls Warren police and reports a car stolen. It takes six hours for that car to be entered into LEADS.
A supervisor is required to enter the car's information into a "hot list," and "our normal patrol officers cannot enter a custom hot list," Altiere said. If an officer is "searching and searching you, we'll see that and that would be flagged. We shut that down," Altiere said.
He said supervisors typically want a case number before entering a "hot list" search, though there are times when there is no case number created yet. He said the "reason field" has to be filled out before an officer can request a "hot list" search, and the reason has to be "somewhat detailed ... to justify why you queried that," Altiere said.
Flock can provide additional features, but the Warren Police Department doesn't plan to purchase any additional features, he said.
Laprocina said in the past six months, Flock was used 27 times successfully. On Wednesday, using Flock, a person who committed shoplifting was found and stopped, and the person admitted to the theft. He said stolen vehicles have been returned to their owners within two hours using Flock.
When Rucker asked what happens if an officer doesn't have an investigative reason to enter a license plate into the system, Massucci said the officer "won't be able to enter it. If you don't put in the correct fields - you don't put any information on why you are searching for that plate - it won't allow you to do it."
If an officer misused the system, "there would be progressive discipline," Massucci said. Internal affairs would be assigned to determine whether something was done improperly.
Rucker asked what would happen if one of the supervisors misused Flock. Massucci said it is audited every 30 days, meaning the information is reviewed by Altiere, then Massucci and then Service and Safety Director Eddie Colbert. Soon it will be audited every week.
When Rucker asked whether audits are a public record, Massucci said the City of Warren web site provides the public with a way to see what type of activity the Flock cameras have been used for.
Rucker asked what Flock does with the information it gets from Warren's cameras. Altiere said the city and Flock have a memorandum of understanding that spells out how that information can be shared. It can only go to a law enforcement agency that is a "paying customer" of Flock, Altiere said.
Altiere said queries into Flock are stored for 30 days. The audit records do not have a time limit.
When Rucker asked what happens to information obtained about a person driving down the road who is not entered into LEADS.
Massucci said such information will not be used for anything if the license plate on a vehicle was never entered into Flock. "You're just a nobody," he said. "Now if we enter it because you stole from Giant Eagle, that's a different story." It would alert, Mayor Doug Franklin said.