The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office begins using new technology to help solve crime in Okaloosa.

• Seventy percent of crime involves a vehicle, according to the OCSO.
• The new technology system allows law enforcement to track vehicles involved in anything from a child abduction to a murder through the use of license plate photos. 

The Flock camera system, which uses a subscription based payment system, is being phased in over time. The OCSO says that it’s “already proven its worth” in locating a missing endangered individual found in Panama City, finding the direction of travel of the subject of a Silver Alert, and locating a murder suspect. 

“This is a networking system to try and solve crime or find endangered children, silver alerts, and even welfare checks,” said Sheriff Eric Aden. “We just started putting these up and it has already been successful in three situations.”

• Two weeks ago, the FWBPD’s license plate reader found a suspect in a very short timeframe, and allowed the OCSO to apprehend the suspect.
• “He could have been anywhere, but the license plate reader was able to identify that he was here in the Fort Walton Beach area,” he said.

“We also had a silver alert just last night on a 94-year-old man that went missing,” he added. “The man was starting to have some mental decline and though our partners in Santa Rosa county, the license plate reader hit in their county and he was, unfortunately, involved in a traffic crash in the Mobile area. He was fine but we were able to find him and make sure that we got him to safety.”

According to Aden, the only information that shows up on these license plate readers is what’s called a hot list.

• The system does not use facial recognition technology.
• Deletes its data every 30 days on a rolling basis.
• Does not sell data to third parties.

“Let’s face it, criminals use technology and it’s high-time law enforcement uses the technology that’s at their disposal,” he added. “Criminals don’t know jurisdictional lines and they don’t care it. These tools will be able to establish a timeline of evidence to be able to catch individuals that are committing these crimes against people.”

Sheriff Eric Aden says the crime-fighting tool will allow the OCSO to better network with surrounding police departments and Sheriff’s Offices which already have the technology in place, as well as agencies across the country, in fighting crime and boosting public safety. 

For more information on the program, go to FlockSafety.com.