Smile, you’re on camera. Ada County sheriff wants to add this device to local roads
The Ada County Commission may allow traffic cameras used for criminal investigations to be added to local roads, adding another tool for law enforcement while worrying some with concerns about civil liberties.
Many intersections in Ada County already have cameras. But those devices are run by the Ada County Highway District. They are used to keep track of and regulate traffic. The cameras do not record footage, the agency has said.
The Ada County Sheriff’s Office wants to install cameras that would track license plates and car descriptions, which could be used to assist investigations.
“We’re looking for this thing, can you tell us if it came through here?” Sheriff Matt Clifford told the commission at a Monday meeting describing how the cameras would work. “There’s no appetite to use it for any kind of traffic enforcement or infractions.”
If police were looking for a particular vehicle description, they could use the cameras to search whether a car matching that description had recently passed through a particular intersection. Or, if police knew the license plate of a suspect, they could set up an alert that would notify them if that license plate were photographed.
The company that makes the cameras, Rekor, programs them to store data for 60 days, but the Sheriff’s Office said that limit could be adjusted. The data is stored physically on the cameras, the Sheriff’s Office said, and is accessed via an internet connection.
Commissioner Ryan Davidson is queasy about the cameras. He worries they could be abused by the government. The County Commission had prepared to give the cameras a green light in July when Davidson asked to delay approving the agreement to get more information.
On Tuesday, the commission again tabled the agreement until later this month.
“The concern from the public is we’re moving towards more and more digital oversight, cameras on every street corner,” he said on Monday during a meeting between the two agencies. He said he wants the county to have a policy that would prevent “overzealous” use of the cameras.
Davidson said he strongly opposes red-light or speeding cameras. He said he wouldn’t want to create a network of cameras that could be used to catch people with expired vehicle registrations or license plates. Though Clifford said the cameras would largely be used to find suspects of felony crimes, Davidson said “somebody’s going to propose that eventually.”
Davidson also said he was worried about the data getting hacked, and whether a Sheriff’s Office employee could potentially abuse the system by tracking an ex-partner.
Clifford said he couldn’t rule that out, but said new hires go through background checks and take an oath before joining the department.
“We have to do our best to sort those people out that are going to do that,” Clifford said. “And if they do, then we have to take care of it and hold them accountable.”
Some Idaho law enforcement agencies use similar camera systems, including Meridian, Nampa, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls, the Sheriff’s Office said. Nampa’s cameras were used to find a Nampa man who was later convicted of murdering a man with whom the suspect lived after the victim’s body was found in Star.
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
