Two separate $30,000 donations from the East Hampton Village Foundation, accepted by the village board at its Dec. 18 meeting, will pay for the installation of 10 Flock Safety license-plate readers, which will be placed at each entry and exit point to the village. One camera, a gift from Suffolk County, was previously installed at the intersection of Main Street and Newtown Lane.
The idea came from Edward Pantzer, a member of the foundation’s board of directors, who owns a house in Palm Beach, Fla., where, he told the board, the cameras have been used with great success.
Once the cameras are installed, the village will pay $30,000 annually to maintain a subscription. Marcos Baladron, the village administrator, said that the foundation has committed to the program for at least its first five years. With the annual payment, the village also becomes part of the Flock network, which gives it access to Flock cameras placed elsewhere. Mr. Baladron said that can help solve multi-jurisdictional crimes.
Flock cameras go a step further than the license-plate reading technology the village now uses to track vehicles at the beach parking lots. Instead of reading license plates only, Flock also recognizes the make and model of vehicles, and other details such as bumper stickers.
“A couple of weeks ago our Flock camera helped us in a larceny at Louis Vuitton and Gucci,” Village Police Chief Jeff Erickson said in a phone call. “Our detective searched for ‘Red Jeep Trump bumper sticker,’ and Flock was able to locate the plate. We ran the plate, got their address, and had a cop there in a half-hour.”
Flock cameras are also used by the town police and by Suffolk County. At a recent village board meeting, Mayor Jerry Larsen reported that a few years ago, the county’s Flock cameras helped detectives track vehicles that were stolen in the village.
The technology is powerful, and is the subject of at least one open lawsuit filed by the Institute for Justice against the Virginia city of Norfolk, which claims that its 170 cameras act as a “warrantless surveillance program.”
“Big Brother is everywhere,” said Mr. Erickson, who noted the ubiquity of Ring-style doorbells and said he hasn’t heard of any complaints about the system yet. “Certainly, from a law enforcement perspective, it will be a huge help.”
The board also passed a resolution for a no-cost program called Flock Safety for the Drones as a First Responder. That program, which will be tested by the fire department starting in February, could save many wasted trips for false alarms. Mr. Baladron explained it: When an alarm rings in the Northwest Protection district, for example, a drone could be sent in ahead of firefighters to assess the scene before they arrive.
“The drone can arrive there faster, and allow dispatch to communicate the video back to our fire chiefs as they are getting to the scene,” he said. “We have over 1,400 fire alarms a year, and knowing what we need at the scene as we get there will better protect our volunteers and personnel.” The village plans to roll out the program with the Police Department as well, by the summer.
