The department has received 15 Flock Safety cameras and has set them up in various parts of the city.
Flock Safety is a company that makes cameras for police departments across the country.
The cameras take still photos of vehicles' license plates as they pass by. If a plate belongs to a vehicle police are looking for, it will automatically alert officers.
Installation of the cameras finished on Friday Sept. 6, and they have been active since. The police department announced the cameras on its Facebook page on Monday, Sept. 9.
Though the WWPD Facebook page does not allow comments, the subject has been discussed on several Walla Walla focused pages and groups.
While several posts have been supportive of the department's decision to use to the cameras; others have expressed concerns.
WHAT THE CAMERAS DO (AND DON'T DO)
The cameras take still images only.
"There's no live-video feeds from the system itself," Police Capt. Eric Knudson said. "It simply takes a snapshot of the rear of the car and captures that information."
The system does not have facial recognition and does not keep track of people.
After an image is taken, a computerized system checks to see whether the vehicle is of interest to the police. A vehicle of interest could be a car connected to an active police investigation, a vehicle reported as stolen or one connected to an Amber Alert or other national database.
Communities across the country have Flock cameras, and they are all connected.
So if child is kidnapped in a city with Flock cameras in Texas, and a vehicle connected to a suspect who drives past a Flock camera in Walla Walla, police here will be notified.
WHAT THEY CAN, AND CANNOT, BE USED FOR
"We do not use it for immigration enforcement," Knudson said. "We don't use it to write tickets. They are not speed cameras and they are not red-light cameras."
One concern some community members have expressed online is officers using the system for invalid purposes, to track people they shouldn't.
The system doesn't allow officers to pull up information on anyone they want, Knudson said. Only license plates on a tracked database, or ones involved in an active case with an active case number will activate notifications.
And if any officer adds any plate into the system to be tracked, that action will be recorded, and cannot be deleted.
"They can't edit their use of the system," Knudson said. "The use of the system is captured and preserved. It doesn't purge out. So, if an officer has entered a vehicle to place an alert on, maybe for a wanted person or maybe one connected to a shooting, it tracks who put that vehicle in the system and why. And again, it's for the life of the system."
"There has to be a case number associated with the use of Flock," Sgt. Nick Loudermilk said. "I can't just go in there and type in a random plate number, or, like, my neighbor's plate to see where he has been. It has to be connected to an incident."
Audits will be conducted to ensure there is a legitimate reason each time the system is used or accessed.
The cameras will help officers find vehicles. Once a car is detected, if officers pursue it, the system will continue to update officers on the vehicle's location and help them track it down. However, once a vehicle is found, officers must go through their normal steps, Loudermilk said.
They must call in the license plate to dispatch to confirm that the vehicle is actually on a database or is wanted. Officers can't stop a vehicle or make an arrest on the say-so of the automated system alone.
THE BENEFITS
Knudson said the cameras are a cost-effective way to proactively combat crime without hiring additional officers.
"Our department has 48 commissioned, sworn officers when we are fully staffed," Knudson said. "We work within city budgets, and we can't just add five to 10 officers just because. So, we have to keep finding ways to better serve the community and catch people who commit crimes more effectively."
The 15 cameras, which the city is leasing, cost Walla Walla about $50,000. Knudson said the cameras are being paid for from the department's drug forfeiture fund.
He said he thinks the cameras will help fewer officers do more.
"I kind of consider it a force multiplier," Knudson said. "So, if we are looking for a specific person who is in a vehicle and who may have committed, say, a homicide, for example, we can key in the plate, add it as an alert, and there are 15 cameras scattered throughout the city that will tell us when that car passes that camera."
The cameras are placed at various locations, including some in the Ninth Avenue corridor. Knudson said the locations have been chosen based on crime stats. He said the cameras can — and will be — moved around.
THE TRANSPARENCY
Knudson said the department's leadership knows there will be concerns about how the cameras will be used.
A "transparency portal" online lists when the department can use the system, what it can be used for, and lists information on how often it has been used.
The portal is available at bit.ly/wwpdflock.
According to the portal, information is retained for 30 days. As of Tuesday, Sept. 10, 82,932 vehicles have been detected since the cameras went online, resulting in "114 hotlist hits."
Knudson said providing this information is important.
The WWPD isn't the only department in the Valley to get the cameras. The College Place Police Department will receive its own Flock cameras. CPPD Chief Troy Tomaras said he expects his department to start using the cameras in November.
Though Flock cameras are new to Walla Walla County, the technology is not new. The chances are most drivers in the area have driven past one. Knudson said cities across the state and country have had them for some time, including the Yakima, Richland, Kennewick and Pasco police departments.
In Yakima, the system was credited for authorities apprehending a man suspected of molesting a 6-year-old.
"At the end of the day," Loudermilk said, "it is just taking a picture of a license plate on a vehicle on a public roadway."
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