The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday voted to grant the Flagler County Sheriff untrammeled live access to the city’s 160 non-traffic surveillance cameras. Those cameras are not part of the sheriff’s license plate readers, which were installed a few years ago. Nor are they part of the city’s existing camera network at 44 traffic intersections, to which the sheriff gained access through a separate contract three years ago.
The cameras in question in the latest agreement are all those located at city parks, City Hall, city facilities like its utilities department, including water and sewer plants, or public works department and other city-owned locations. City parks have been the scene of incidents, and surveillance footage has always been turned over to the Sheriff’s Office–which has a policing contract with the city–subsequent to incidents in any given city-owned location. The additions vastly expand the sheriff’s surveillance and crime-fighting capabilities, giving the agency the ability “to assess any situation before arriving on scene,” as Palm Coast IT Director Doug Akins described it.
The cameras are accessible by anyone with a log-in, so no additional infrastructure is required.
The Sheriff’s Office will have the right to record video footage from any of the cameras. It currently records traffic-camera footage. It may do so with footage from the additional field cameras, as long as it complies with public record laws: the footage is public record in most instances (there are notable exceptions, as when the footage may reveal security capabilities or vulnerabilities), and may be withheld temporarily, in specific cases when law enforcement is still investigating a case. The city has been keeping recordings of non-traffic cameras all along, and keeps those recordings “according to the retention schedule” set out in the public record law, Akins said. The minimum retention required is 30 days.
The sheriff is prohibited from disclosing codes or logins to third parties. (The cameras run on the city’s Genetec software platform.) “The City shall create user accounts for FSCO for the Genetec platform, as needed, at its own discretion,” the contract with the Sheriff’s Office states. “Access to the Genetec software platform and the City’s non-traffic cameras shall only be through the City issued user accounts.” The contract notes: “The City shall grant view-only access to all non-traffic City security cameras through the Genetec software platform.”
Any cameras the city adds to its network as it grows will be part of the Sheriff’s Office’s license agreement.
The Sheriff’s Office has been using the city’s traffic cameras for some time, but it was only on Tuesday that the council ratified the arrangement. “Some time ago, Flagler County Sheriff’s Office reached out to us about gaining access to all the field cameras for use in their real-time crime center,” Doug Akins, the city’s IT director, said Tuesday evening. The crime center was started three years ago. (See: “Flagler Sheriff’s New Real-Time Crime Center Merges Tactics, Technology and Powerful Surveillance Tools.”)
“So the city granted an access and the resolution for tonight just to formalize that process and kind of lay out the roles and responsibilities of both parties in that agreement,” Akins said.
The city will continue to maintain the cameras, paying for them, their repairs and so on. The contract calls for a $10 payment from the Sheriff’s Office. The cameras in some cases are linked to the city’s Fibernet, or broadband, infrastructure. Sheriff’s officials insisted–as has Sheriff Rick Staly in previous interviews–that the agency is not interested in surveillance for surveillance’s sake. But the system depends on trust since, as the sheriff himself told the council Tuesday evening, he was not going to divulge various investigative techniques, some of them using cameras.
“I’m glad you said that this is strictly for crime use not for big brother watching over you. So that’s good to hear,” Council member Eddie Branquinho said.
The cameras are all up 24 hours a day. They can all be fed into the Real Time Crime Center, currently located at the county courthouse, the sheriff’s temporary headquarters. “We are not just sitting there watching them,” Nikki North, supervisor of the Real Time Crime Center, said. “We only utilize them if a crime is occurring. So we monitor or radio or call screen to see what’s coming in.”
North’s statement is narrower than its application in reality: police monitor criminal activity, actual or suspected, since ultimately it’s the State Attorney’s Office’s and the courts’ determinations as to whether a crime occurred. In other words, the surveillance element is very much in play, giving law enforcement eyes on a situation that ultimately may or may not be determined to be suspicious or criminal. But in terms of outcomes, the sheriff could boast of a precipitous drop in crime in Flagler and Palm Coast in his first term, a drop he attributed in large part to technological applications of policing on his watch. Crime has been falling across Florida, but the drop in Flagler was steeper, giving Flagler the fourth-lowest crime rate among counties of 100,000 population or more.
North’s presentation to the council focused on traffic cameras along with cameras installed at businesses: the Sheriff’s Office launched a program enabling residents or businesses to allow law enforcement access to their cameras, similar to city access, but not necessarily in real time. North described the apprehension of cross-state suspects and, in another example, of a smash-and-grab suspect at Waterfront Park, which described in vivid detail the meaning of “real time.”
“So in this case, at Waterfront Park, a suspect went up to the car, busted the window and took the purse,” North said. “We were able to, as the call was coming in, we were able to locate a suspect vehicle, you’re able to track that vehicle on the traffic cameras. And sure enough, as the vehicle is pulling out of Walmart, our deputies were able to set up stop sticks in neighboring areas and were able to stop stick them and locate the burglars in that case.” (Stop sticks are wiry devices that, when thrown in the path of a vehicle, can puncture tires.) Those suspects had several warrants from other locations on the East Coast.
North also described the Christopher Holmes case from April 2021, when Holmes disrupted intersections in the center of town by stopping his car and acting bizarrely before he was charged with assault and robbery. (He was found guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, robbery, and drug possession with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a place where children gather, a combination of first, second and third degree felonies that could have sent him to prison for 65 years. He got four years last August.)
“They ultimately ended up locating him near the hotels,” North said of Holmes on his most publicly criminal day, so frequently captured on those cameras, “but we were actually able to live, pretty much zoomed our deputies, or show them the videos as it was happening to just add to their charges. So these are just quite a few of the cases. We’re using these for anything and everything you can think of to help us solve crimes on a daily basis. So it’s been a great partnership to have.”
“The cases that that were highlighted tonight may not have been solved without that support,” Sheriff Rick Staly, who also addressed the council, said of the cases North described. Cmdr. Joe Barile, who heads the sheriff’s homeland security section, also spoke to the council.
The council approved the contract 5-0. See the contract below.
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Ray says
Sheriff Rick Ego. King Daddy! What a waste of money.
Noneya says
I feel accused. too.much dancing arround as2 who and why wztching. big brother i s watching from now on. Even the licence plates
raw says
Hey Ray.
Do have a better idea on how to assist law enforcement to protect us?
Dennis C Rathsam says
Put all these perps in jail, stop letting them out so quickly!
Local says
We need cameras everywhere….need to start sending out tickets again for people running red-light. Yellow lights in palmcoast mean go faster. Before palmcoast ,yellow lights meant slow down and prepare to stop. If you are a law abiding citizen then you should have no problems with more cameras.
Anonymous says
This is America and last time I checked us real Americans don’t need or want drones hovering over our homes every night watching our every move. This is so not American and I can’t believe people are going for this BS. Take a look up at the sky at night time and tell me you don’t see lights in the sky other than planes. Planes cannot hover. I’ve been seeing them over and behind my property for five years now it’s ridiculous and resembles communism please people wake up
Old Guy says
They are called Stars🙂
Local says
You’re out there….they can’t man enough drones to watch everyone….I’m ok with cameras in public. People with things to hide are usually the ones that oppose them.
jim lang says
If there flying a drone over my home at night they will be very bored. On the other hand I do fly my drone all over Palm Coast with very little problems.
Eye for an Eye says
Number one, “Yellow” means proceed with caution. Two, if YOU yourself are a law abiding citizen you should have no problem greenlighting the prosecution and conviction of every terrorist’s citizen or politician caught on camera breaking the law on Jan 6th.
Percy's mother says
Beg to differ there.
I always thought that “yellow” means/meant “proceed with caution”.
Found out that apparently is not the case. I was pulled over once for “going through a red light”. I told the officer the light turned “yellow” as I was proceeding through the intersection.
The officer was not amused. He said “yellow” is actually “red” and that one is required to STOP on a “yellow”. I was subsequently given a ticket. Believing I was STILL in the right, having always thought that “yellow” means proceed with caution, I decided to fight the ticket in court rather than just paying the ticket. The officer presented himself before the judge with me. The judge was NOT AMUSED. He wasn’t interested in my presenting the rules of the road booklet and explaining to him that “yellow” means proceed with caution. He told me point blank not to try to educate him.
The case was adjudicated that day.
So to sum it up, from my story only, the judge and the officer BOTH SAID yellow means “STOP”, not proceed with caution.
May want to ask some of the officers around here. It may vary according to interpretation of the law.
I learned my lesson. If I see a “yellow light” now, I slowly stop. Unfortunately, many around here see a yellow and hit the gas, which by then, is a RED light.
Eye for an Eye says
Its always a tough case to fight, civilian vs officer in front of the courts. I was told don’t accelerate though a yellow light, maintain a lawful speed and their shouldn’t be a problem unless the cop wants to make one. Otherwise everyone would be ticketed for it and people would be slamming on the brakes like we used to with the red light cameras.
L says
No…you are wrong….flashing yellow means proceed with caution but on a standard red yellow and green light it means slow down and prepare to stp because a red light is next and red is for stkp…..not kick it!
joe says
“If you are a law abiding citizen then you should have no problems with more cameras.”
So I guess they can install cameras inside your house?
This “if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear” attitude can be taken too far. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’d be OK with police stopping you at every stop light and searching your car?
For The Birds says
Dear Sheriff,
Within your broad search for crime you have used the advancement of technology to surrender the basic fundamental right to privacy for over 120,000 people living in this county and anyone who passes through it. I know, you’re not the only one out there these days but this isn’t about the others waving Gadsden flags while simultaneously wearing thin blue line apparel in a misguided quest to have it both ways. My comments are in regards to the choice you made at everyone else’s expense with your position of power. Considering most of our population is non-criminal minded and does not choose to view the world around them as “The Green Roof In,” your thirst for mass survelance is a now a burden on the psyche of those who have earned and hold dear the fundamental right to enjoy life as free American citizens.
Personally, I once enjoyed getting outside and heading out to a park or the beach. From the perspective of a law abiding citizen, 99.9% of the time I witness zero criminal incidents other than the occasional traffic violation. Obviously from your perspective that percentage is a lot less due to your line of work. In my eyes however, life had a sense of normalcy and I enjoyed the simple feeling of a light breeze against my skin as I went about my way, free as a bird. I also felt confident knowing if there was a slim chance of witnessing a bad guy doing bad guy things, I could call the police as needed. I enjoyed soaking in the great outdoors and listening to the birds sing with friends or family or sometimes alone with nature. Yes, I remember those days. I remember the days of savoring a pure moment of relaxation and closing my eyes on a park bench somewhere while taking a deep breath and internalizing our natural surroundings.
Nowadays, unfortunately I don’t get the same pleasure as I once did. To be honest, I feel watched from the moment I leave my home. You can reassure the public all you want that you’re not looking at them, just that other guy. You can even recycle verbiage like, “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.” Whether your intentions are non-invasive or not, for many law abiding citizens it doesn’t matter what words are creatively spoken and in whatever reassuring mannerisms you deliver them. The fact that this next level of surveillance network even exists here is enough to make some non-criminal minded citizens feel like they too are being watched. Especially in today’s hyper political climate. What do I mean by that? It’s no secret there are some (not all) members of law enforcement who have ties to extremist organizations, conspiracy groups or inspired by politicaly motivated ideologies. That could not only affect someone’s better judgment while on the job but also inspire others around them to behave in similar ways. Combine that with bad seeds having access to surveillance tech and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess what the possibilities could be if this technology got into the wrong hands and a citizen’s location information was shared outside of LE. That’s just one example. What if a bogus reason was used to justify suspicion to surveil? How long would the surveillance last and would the person being surveilled be informed of the length or scope of surveillance once it was determined they were not breaking any laws? Nope. Why? You know who you are watching. Innocent people don’t have the equivalent tech to know who is watching them and why. Get it? For citizens with no criminal intent, the type of surveillance system that you installed or requested access to could, in the wrong hands, be used to create a rigged game of cat and mouse. At least a mouse isn’t usually blindfolded and has a chance to escape a bully cat. Whether far fetched or not, the simple fact is there are now License Plate Readers mounted to polls at intersections scanning everyone’s tag (with no ability to opt out) providing location and directional information to… human beings. In addition now we are seeing an excessive amount of surveillance cameras in multiple locations that also provide location and directional information to… human beings. For some people the simple fact that unknown persons watching or tracking them through a draconian surveillance system such as the one you chose to install and requested access to, is in and of itself, unsettling. For others, understanding the possibilities of how this tech could potentially be used is beyond unsettling. The inability to know what someone is thinking and how our presence is perceived upon their observation has a varying psychological effect on the ability for a citizen to be at ease when a creepy surveillance camera is pointed at them or they pass under an LPR mounted to a pole. Obviously the effect of mass surveillance on the scale you have rolled out can vary from person to person.
These days when I leave my house to enjoy all the wonderful amenities our area has to offer, there’s a camera facing the corner at the exit of my neighborhood. There’s about two or three LPR’s with cameras at the intersections and a camera at the park when I arrive. By the time I get out of my car I’m in a cold sweat because, not only do I find your surveillance system offensively intrusive, but “coincidentally” some weirdo will usually pull up next to me a few minutes later in some kind of sketchy tinted out vehicle donning a black American flag, Molon Labe sticker, blue line, WWG1WGA, temporary or modified tags and a driver that doesn’t get out. A coincidence perhaps, or perhaps not? It doesn’t really matter considering a surveillance system such as the one you have gifted yourself with is in the hands of other… human beings. These days, anything is possible.
Stretchem says
This comment is a good read. Thank you for your well reasoned insight.
Dennis says
“I’m glad you said that this is strictly for crime use not for big brother watching over you. So that’s good to hear,” Council member Eddie Branquinho said.
If you believe this statement, shame on you. Never believe anything a politician tells you. Staley is also a politician weather you believe it or not.
Mark says
They want to stop all crime and control everything , sick over reach, you can’t stop all crime but now they will see every intimate moment, when u kiss your wife, pick your butt, change your kid , breat feed, they are watching
CaptainSmith says
“The cameras are accessible by anyone with a log-in, so no additional infrastructure is required” interesting! When is our city going to hire real IT people ?
Jay Tomm says
Will this curb the bike & street racing in the rymfire area, or old kings? I hear hear those engines & races from my house in the wee hours in the morning all the time. Then I see the dark tire burnout marks on the pavements during the day.
Mark says
Where else do you suggest locals Street race? Sheesg if it were up to your kind no crime would be committed ever. How unamerican is that?
Susan says
It’s about time since the crime seems to be climbing.
Mark says
“We only utilize them if a crime is occurring. So we monitor or radio or call screen to see what’s coming in.” See how long that lasts. Smile you’re on Candid Camera.
Skibum says
I applaud the sheriff’s office for it’s use of technology to help fight crime. Those who are criticizing the taxpayer funding of surveillance cameras in our county are ill informed, because these cameras are an efficient and incredibly valuable law enforcement tool which captures critical video footage of crimes in progress and physical descriptions of law breakers. Not only can they deter crimes from happening in some cases, there is no better evidence in court than for a judge and/or jury to view video footage of the defendant actually committing the crime he or she is accused of. This technology often saves countless man hours that would have otherwise been necessary to investigate crimes. Just like fire hydrants are to fire departments… just sitting there inactive when not needed but worth their weight in gold during an actual fire, so are surveillance cameras to crime fighters. And if you’re not a criminal out committing crimes against society, why in the world would you be against having this crime fighting tool?
Brian Waters says
Why not use the ‘taxpayer funding’ that you mention in your post to put more deputies on the street? Using video cameras to view non-criminal (who are the majority of those surveiled) activities infringe on our freedoms. And to justify this by claiming it’s use is to view the activities of AN EXTREME FEW criminals is rich.
This is just an attempt to use technology for policing on the cheap.
Jp says
Because it’s not a crime fighting tool. It’s an invasion of privacy that somehow gets embraced by the same people who cry about their first amendment rights being violated of a private company tells them they’re not welcome. Weird times.
Skibum says
Although you are entitled to your opinion, you have a very unusual idea of what invasion of privacy is, Jp. These cameras are in public, not on private property, certainly not pointed into your home or anyone else’s home. What makes you think you are entitled to “privacy” when you are out and about in public, because you legally have no privacy rights when you leave your home. Can anyone with a phone turn on the camera or video function and aim it toward you in public, like at the beach, without running into “privacy” concerns? YES! Do you have the right to demand they put down their phone or delete any video of you in public? NO! Just like many people today like to videotape police at traffic stops, etc., you legally have no leg to stand on regarding surveillance cameras monitoring public spaces. So despite your opinion to the contrary, citizens have no legal leg to stand on when they claim an invasion of privacy while out in public.
Jp says
Your concession to government eyes is terrifying. Something tells me you either have an exhibitionist fetish or you are very very tight with our glorious sheriff. Either way, being watched as soon as I leave my home is not what I expect in the United States.
Skibum says
LOL, nether is true. I have never been an exhibitionist, don’t have any desire whatsoever to watch other people. And I have never once met the sheriff. But I did have a 29-year career in law enforcement out west and definitely know the value of this type of technology. I’m quite confident that those who work in the sheriff’s office and have the responsibility of using the surveillance camera system also have no exhibitionist proclivities, and are merely good public servants who are diligently trying to solve crimes so that our county’s public spaces remain as safe as possible for you and others to enjoy our way of life here in Palm Coast and Flagler County. I don’t know what it will take to convince the alarmists like yourself otherwise, but I would hate to live every day mistakenly believing there is someone around every corner watching every move I make in public, which is certainly not the case. If you choose to live your life in fear of this technology or any advancement in technology that is certain to continue to be implemented in the future, I pity how sorry you must feel, and maybe you need to visit a psychiatrist to help you with those unfounded fears.
george orwell says
Yeah for crime only HA what a joke, that is definitely big brother snooping around. “oh well if you are a law a binding citizen you hve nothing to worry about” please that is the biggest joke i have ever heard. you don’t think the police lie and make stuff up then you are delusional, im not saying it happens all the time but it does happen. it will be misused and abused. it’s sad how people will just allow the government and the police to take their freedoms and rights away in the name of safety. 1984 was a fiction book not an instruction manual
Mary Fusco says
But, every person over the age of 6 is carrying a cell phone that never leaves their hands. These phones have video and picture capabilities. If you park in the wrong place at Publix, picture is taken of your license plate. Have an argument with the cashier, person in back of you is recording. Spank your kid at the beach, some busybody is taking a video. Kids have a fight at school, being videoed. I would imagine that anyone is free to video your home since our own so called politicians have the gall to video homes and blow them all over the internet. I would fear the crazies with the phones in their hand before a camera on a pole at an intersection. JMHO though.
Wow says
Wait until DeSantis hears about this! This is Florida! The “free state”. He will put a stop to this and keep us “free”. Lol.
Sherry says
Read “Banned” 1984 again and again. We most certainly are living on that slippery slope right now!
Not only are massive surveillance systems like this being implemented, millions worldwide have actually paid for and installed “listening and watching” devices in their homes. SMART TVs that are voice/motion controlled are watching/listening to you. Voice controlled devices such as Alexa are listening to your every word. The camera/microphone on that computer that you never bother to turn off in your bedroom is watching/listening to you undress and have sex. That smart phone you can’t put down is listening to you. . . even your snoring while you are sleeping with it.
If, like most people, you think it’s “all OK” because you are not doing anything “WRONG”. . . think again. We are, unfortunately, in great risk of losing our current democratic constitutional rights to authoritarian right winged fascism. Consider the possibility that under such a regime all that data could be turned over to the government, and speaking out against the county/state/federal administration in the (non) privacy of your own home could be deemed “criminal”.
Many things are still under your direct control. Do everything you can to preserve your vital privacy today!
j says
” right winged fascism”
Wow…. Really?
I can safely assume you are an over-educated liberal from “up-noooth”
FYI, right winged means morals, self governing and less government. They didn’t teach that at ivy league.
Steve says
What right wing you talking about?? Notvthe one I am watching
Flatsflyer says
Right Winged means Morals, what a joke. Your dear leader has no morals, no common sense and to top things off he is racist, bigoted idiot lying about his Christian beliefs. Feel free to make statements like this but please refrain until Trump is embombed and screwed into the ground.
Mark says
Right winged means you fly in circles getting no where without your left winged brother
Sherry says
“Big Brother” is here. . . A must read:
https://www.bayoubuzz.com/dir/index.php/bb/item/1063825-amazon-s-big-brother-spy-alexa-leaves-us-speechless
https://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/amazon-alexa-google-home-privacy-surveillance/
https://www.silicon.co.uk/workspace/is-your-tv-watching-you-290401
Thomas Gaffey says
Thank you Sherrif Brady for your efforts to keep us safe.
Skibum says
For those of you who still doubt the usefulness of technology such as surveillance cameras and license plate reader (LPR) cameras in public spaces monitoring our local roads, parks, etc., you should read the latest article posted here on FlaglerLive about the murder last night of a local teen at a party just off of Old Kings Road just north of Mantanzas High School. The sheriff stated that right after the shooting, numerous people fled in vehicles on Old Kings Rd., and LPR cameras captured the license plates of those cars and will help investigators track down witnesses and potential suspect(s) in this homicide investigation. Without this incredibly valuable technology, many, many man hours and YOUR tax dollars would need to be spent to get the same results… maybe, if investigators were lucky. One cannot overstate the investigative importance of the use of technology such as what is being implemented right here in Flagler County to assist in the investigation of criminal activity. They are not interested in watching people on their daily walks or bike rides in parks, nor do these cameras spy on what kind of food you are eating for fun. They pull up images and video only after a crime so they can review it to see if there is anything shown on there relating to a specific crime they are investigating – that is all! We should be thankful that our tax dollars are being spent wisely, and not wasted. Enough said.
Jp says
If you blindly believe that they’re only going to be used like that then you haven’t been paying attention.
Fool Me Once says
Has the Sheriff cracked the stolen turtle case yet? Got to be lots of video, LPR and cell phone tower data to be sifted through.
Eye for an Eye says
Hey Mr. “Minority Report”, the movie (In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes)
the cameras didn’t stop this recent murder did they?
The dude says
You guys sure have a lot of freedumb around these here parts.
What’s next, a “stop and frisk” policy?
“Identification papers on demand”?
Re-education camps?
The Geode says
It’s easier to monitor these cameras and generate money than to solve some of these MURDERS…
Sherry says
@ J. . .
As an educated, open minded “Florida Native” I passionately believe that we should NEVER have an end to learning and evolving in our lives. How very sad for you that you have obviously given up on your own evolution and education.
It would be a fruitless waste of my time to comment further on your ill conceived understanding of the current state of the right winged agenda.
Concerned Citizen says
Has anyone noticed the drastic decrease of traffic enforcement since the camera installs? I sure have.
Other than sitting over in the usual spots I’ve seen an uptick in aggresive and distracted driving and not many patrol units floating around. Especially at night when I come home from work and watch the fast moving bikes blast off of 95 down Palm Coast Pkwy. Completely unchallenged.
We are supposed to have a dedicated traffic unit. Where are they?