LEXINGTON, Ky. — The City of Lexington has 25 new safety cameras. 

The devices are helping Lexington Police locate and identify license plates to determine if vehicles have been associated with a crime.  

What You Need To Know

  • The City of Lexington is installing 25 Flock Safety Cameras

  • The cameras will be in high crime reported areas by the public

  • Lexington has partnered with Flock Safety and the National Police Foundation for a one-year pilot study

  • Police officials will not release the location of the cameras out of safety precautions

Over the last few weeks, Lexington Police have installed 9 out of 25 new safety cameras that Chief Lawerence Weathers says have aided in arrests in 9 cases. 

“The license plate readers work by taking multiple images of a vehicle when it drives by,” Weathers said.

The city has partnered with Flock Safety and the National Police Foundation for a one-year pilot study, to see if these safety devices reduce crime.

“The images are then automatically checked against law enforcement databases to see if the vehicle is wanted associated with a warning and alert or other notification,” Weathers said.

Weathers say they will not use the flock safety cameras for traffic offenses such as running a red light or speeding.

“The images and data will only be stored for 30 days if the images are needed as part of a criminal investigation then just will be stored in our digital evidence management system,” Weathers said.

Weathers says these readers will be placed within communities with the highest crime reports from public calls for service over the last two years.

Linda Gorton, Mayor of Lexington, says violent crimes have decreased by 4% in the years of 2020 to 2021

“We are working upon reducing our violent crime in many different ways and our work is beginning to show signs of progress,” Gorton said..

Gorton says these flock cameras are just an extra step in creating a safer community.

“We must continue to modernize the tools of our law enforcement officers. We started the flock program off slowly and we’ve done our homework,” Gorton said.

An effort the city knows not everyone will be on board with. The Mayor and Weathers are working with the public integrity unit to make sure these devices are only used within the policies.

The Lexington police say the city plans to have the flock cameras completely installed by May, and to keep people from avoiding them and for the safety of officers, they will not release the location of these new devices. 

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