The Oconee County Council Tuesday became the first governing body in South Carolina to repeal its investment in automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras.
The unanimous decision closes the public discourse that the council first broached last month, when it presented the idea of cutting its funding to operate the ALPRs through the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office.
The county has funded five cameras around the county since 2022. Each camera costs about $5,000 to operate, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The ordinance bans the cameras from all county properties, but has no sway over ALPRs that could be employed by municipal police departments. Seneca, West Union, Westminster, and Walhalla all deploy ALPRs.
Discussions ranging over three public hearings on the cameras – commonly referred to by the brand name Flock cameras – focused heavily on privacy issues and civil rights violations that ALPRs can bring about. ALPRs are AI-driven cameras that record passing vehicles’ license plates.
Police agencies, including the OCSO, say ALPRs are a valuable tool to supplement small, especially rural, law enforcement agencies. Critics balk at ALPRs indiscriminate recording of vehicles, cite numerous incidents of police officers and Flock Safety employees using the cameras to track and spy on specific motorists, and the ethical questions of a private company having access to potentially sensitive law enforcement data.
Deeper coverage on ALPRs in South Carolina can be found here.
