Suffolk County quietly finalized a five-year, almost $4 million deal for brand new gunshot detectors with controversial surveillance community Flock Security — and AI-powered cameras may very well be subsequent.
Flock Security’s know-how will exchange the ShotSpotter system, which the Lengthy Island county has used for greater than a decade to detect gunshots and notify first responders, officers confirmed to The Put up.
The brand new units from Flock Security — the identical firm behind the AI-powered license plate readers that may monitor a automobile’s each transfer primarily based on dents, bumper stickers and roof racks — are anticipated to be absolutely put in, masking 23.5 sq. miles in Suffolk, by Sept. 6, the officers stated.
The change from ShotSpotter will save the county about $800,000 per-year, in accordance with Jed Painter, normal counsel of the Suffolk County District Lawyer’s Workplace, who led the contract negotiations.
“It’s an excellent deal,” Painter informed The Put up.
The contract doesn’t embody any controversial AI-powered Flock cameras, which critics have referred to as a “Huge Brother”-style surveillance system for native governments and have raised Fourth Modification considerations nationwide
However which will change within the close to future, in accordance with Painter.
“We didn’t negotiate something with Automated License Plate Readers or cameras… but,” stated Painter.
Painter stated he finds Flock’s tech “interesting,” and was adamant that extra of the corporate’s units and extra gunshot detectors may very well be on their approach to the county.
This contains not solely floating the thought of putting in the controversial cameras across the county, but in addition probably upgrading to Flock’s “Raven” system.
The “Raven” system can’t solely detect gunshots, but in addition listens for and stories automobile crashes, and even loud neighborhood disruptions, in accordance with Painter.
The county doesn’t at the moment function any of the cameras itself — however a number of cities, villages, and even personal housing communities round Lengthy Island have shaped their very own contracts with Flock Security to put in the eyes within the sky.
The brand new contract will permit legislation enforcement to cross-reference any potential gunshot detection in Suffolk County with any native municipality’s or personal neighborhood’s personal Flock cameras to trace autos that had been within the space when a shot is detected.
The deal was quietly authorized again in April with a 3-0 vote from the county’s RFP Waiver Committee, with the gunshot detectors starting to be put in earlier this month.
The contract comes as Flock Security is going through a mounting wave of backlash nationwide.
In Suffolk County alone, a number of Flock cameras had been vandalized final month. Certainly one of them was run over by a automobile and one other was coated in paint, resulting in an arrest final Friday, Suffolk police stated.
A slew of payments have been launched to manage the know-how, together with new laws by Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, that might strip federal funding from any native governments or police departments that contract with Flock to deploy the safety cameras.
The Put up reached out to Flock Security for touch upon the Suffolk County deal.
