MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Monongalia County Sheriff Todd Forbes recent application of Flock cameras in Monongalia County was an effective display of the technology and a demonstration of how the systems work in real time.
Forbes said Monday they received the initial report of an abduction at 12:50 p.m. Saturday. The information gathered from the family and put into the Flock system helped deputies zero in on the suspect and return the child to family within about 45 minutes.
“Our problem is Monongalia County is 365 square miles and the surrounding area is endless,” Forbes said Monday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “It’s pretty hard when you have 10 or 15 people searching in such a broad area.”
Forbes said the suspect could have fled to Maryland or Pennsylvania, but the network of cameras was able to quickly direct police to the most likely location—the last place the truck the suspect took from that family was seen. The quick apprehension saved many investigative and search hours while reuniting the family.
“Once we determined we were able to minimize the search area, we inundated the search area with officers, and a short time later, the vehicle was located,” Forbes said. “The young man that was taken was returned to his family, and the individual who took him, his uncle, was evaluated for some mental health issues.”
Forbes said investigators put the vehicle type and license plate number into the system, which resulted in a countywide search. Deputies received the hit that included the location the suspect vehicle was last seen. The only images produced by the system were the back of the vehicle and license plate and nothing else.
“We were not able to see in the vehicle to see the condition of the child or if the child was in the vehicle or anything else,” Forbes said. “Contrary to what we see on social media, all we could see was a picture of a license plate and a location.”
Flock cameras in Monongalia County are static license plate and vehicle type searching machines. The system is not capable of facial recognition, it cannot pick up sounds or listen to conversations, and it does not track the travel of citizens. The system does react to any type of alert that is entered into the system, as shown over the weekend.
“What we do with our Flock cameras and all we do with our Flock cameras is not what you’ll see on social media or hear at the county commission meetings, but this is what they do and this is all they do,” Forbes said.
Del. Tristan Leavitt, R-Kanawha, is very concerned about what happens to the data when it becomes the property of Flock. His data concerns range from who has access to the information and if that data is being properly secured to protect it from bad actors.
“I have very high hopes that we can get legislation through on this,” Leavitt said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “What it looks like we’ll have to see, but I think we will get something through next year.”