LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Flock cameras are heading to more Louisville neighborhoods following a Metro Council vote Thursday evening.
During Thursday's meeting, the council approved $177,000 to purchase 28 new cameras for Council districts 12 and 14. Each will get 14 cameras.
That includes PRP, Valley Station and the surrounding areas.
The cameras are designed to read license plates and alert authorities to stolen vehicles or wanted individuals.
Councilwoman Cindi Fowler, who represents District 14, called them another tool for police.
"It was important to me that they were in a strategic places to where you're going to get them coming or going, so I'm pretty happy about how many we've got," she said.
Louisville Metro Police officials suggested the flock cameras for the area, Fowler said.
"I had spoken to the major in the third division to just ask how we could help," the councilwoman said. "They're short officers and it's just hard to do their job. So they need more tools and that was one of the things they said would be helpful, that we could get more flock cameras."
Councilmembers won't say where the cameras will be installed, but they have worked with police to pick out the locations.
"You'll never have one every place you need to have one, you'll never get one where you have every corner," Councilman Rick Blackwell, who represents District 12, said. "What we're trying to do is be strategic and place them so that it becomes nearly impossible for someone to be in and around district 12 and district 14 and not get picked up on one of the patrol cameras."
Data from the cameras is stored for 30 days, then deleted, unless it's part of an investigation. An officer's request for that information is then logged by the company. They're required to provide a reason for the search. Vehicle details, like the make, model and color, or a license plate, are the only things they can search for.
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