LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More Flock license plate reading cameras could come to Louisville soon, through a less conventional funding plan.

What You Need To Know

  • Louisville police have been rolling out license plate reading cameras over the past six months

  • LMPD said as of Feb. 2023, it owns 123 Flock cameras

  • Councilman Anthony Piagentini is buying nine more Flock cameras for his district serving areas in eastern Jefferson County
  • LMPD said, in the last month, Flock cameras have identified 200 stolen vehicles

Louisville Metro Police Department has been rolling out license plate reading cameras over the past six months with 123 district-owned Flock cameras in the city so far. LMPD said that figure does not include ones owned by suburban city police departments or neighborhood associations within Jefferson County.

Councilman Anthony Piagentini (R-Dist. 19) said many of his constituents in Louisville’s east end hope the Flock cameras can help curb crime in their neighborhoods and throughout the city. 

“It started with outreach from community leaders and members of the public frustrated by the amount of crime, certainly stolen cars and property crime that has been happening,” Piagentini said.

Speaking at a recent Louisville Metro Council Budget and Appropriations Committee meeting on Feb. 9, LMPD Maj. Emily McKinley said Flock cameras have identified 200 stolen vehicles over the past month.

“When that happens, officers get notified through a text message or email or through their NDT in their vehicle that a stolen or any sort of wanted vehicle has passed through that intersection. At that point, if they are in the area, they can try to locate the vehicle,” McKinley explained.

Maj. McKinley also said the Flock cameras have helped LMPD in identifying suspect vehicles in violent crime investigations.

Councilman Piagentini said he met with LMPD to learn more about where the cameras were going. After finding out few were going to his district, he proposed putting forward over $48,000 from his district’s Capital Infrastructure Fund to buy more to put up in the community he serves.

“If I thought they were going to put cameras in these areas, I would have used these district funds for something else,” he said. “It was very clear these areas weren’t going to get these cameras.”

Even though his district is purchasing the new cameras, LMPD will have access to data from them. Maj. McKinley said the more cameras, the better, adding that LMPD is happy to work with any other council members who want to buy more Flock cameras to put up in their districts.

“We were informing the public in my district about securing weapons because there were folks who were leaving weapons in cars. Those cars were unsecured and those weapons in those cars or the cars themselves were used in violent crime in the west end. We are a connected community, and we need to be focusing on these issues all over the place,” said Piagentini.

Spectrum News 1 asked LMPD how many stolen vehicles the department had recovered after Flock cameras spotted the plates. A department spokesperson said LMPD does not track that data.

The Lexington Police Department, which currently has 25 license plate readers, does track some of that data there. Per the last update, Flock cameras there have helped police recover $1.8 million in stolen vehicles, find 15 missing people and charge 197 suspects with crimes. An additional 75 Flock safety cameras will be installed throughout various parts of Fayette County later this year.

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