Smile! Or frown, if you prefer. Either way, the chances of you or your car being photographed locally are going up by the month as more Flock cameras are deployed to keep 24-hour-a-day watch over our community.

The latest to get them is the City of Vero Beach. The Vero police department recently purchased six Flock cameras, and two have already been activated at the east and west ends of Aviation Boulevard, with two others installed on Indian River Boulevard near Fairlane Harbor.

Two additional cameras will be in place soon in Vero on U.S. 1 near “the bend” at 21st Street.  Police are waiting for delivery of two additional cameras, which will be mounted in Humiston Park and Pocahontas Park, where they will capture 360-degree views of the parks.

“You have to keep up with the technology,” said Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey. “If you don’t, you’ll be left behind. They help prevent crimes as well as help us solve crimes. We believe the community feels they are well worth the cost.”

The cameras cost between $2,500 and $3,000 each, plus some start-up and installation costs, and most of them are equipped with License Plate Reader (LPR) technology.

Flock cameras are also being used by the Sheriff’s office – which began installing them in 2021 including on the barrier island – and by Indian River Shores, which introduced them in 2019 and has five cameras located along A1A and on the Jungle Trail.   The City of Sebastian is using six of the cameras, said Sebastian Police Deputy Chief Tim Wood.

Vero also has four older Motorola cameras mounted downtown, but they don’t have the ability to read license plates.

The Flock technology – which is so sophisticated it can positively ID vehicles even without a tag number by recording the vehicle’s color, make and model, accessories like roof racks and bike racks, bumper stickers and even body damage –is in use now in 49 of the 50 states and reportedly captures billions of license plates month.

Flock cameras in Vero, the Shores and Sebastian are integrated into the county system. The state Department of Motor Vehicles also enters data about expired registrations, expired driver’s licenses, and lapsed insurance policies into the system.

“This technology has been a game-changer for law enforcement in Indian River County,” said Sheriff Eric Flowers. “By integrating the cameras into our Real Time Crime Center, we’ve been able to solve crimes faster, locate suspects more efficiently, and ultimately make our neighborhoods safer. It’s a true force multiplier that enhances the way we protect and serve our community.”

The Sheriff’s Office has a team of analysts who monitor the camera system and alert road deputies or police officers when a suspect vehicle pops up, letting patrol officers know where the vehicle is and which way it is going.

That’s how a pair of teens from St. Lucie County were caught by deputies last year in Vero Beach after a violent carjacking in Fort Pierce.

The Sheriff’s Real Time Crime Center has recorded more than 1,000 flagged plates, which has resulted in dozens of arrests and recoveries of stolen vehicles, public information officer Captain Joe Abollo said.

“These cameras are well worth the investment,” said Indian River Shores Detective Rodney Glass.

When online thieves scammed hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold from elderly Shores residents last year, detectives were able to identify them and arrest them using Flock cameras installed around town and in the county.

“We absolutely would not have been able to identify those suspects without the LPR (License Plate Reader) cameras,” said Glass, who was one of the investigators on the gold bar scam cases.

The City of Sebastian’s six LPR cameras are located on U.S. 1, Roseland Road, County Road 512, Barber Street and Schumann Drive.

Between these cameras and private security cameras, including residential doorbell cameras, police investigations have become much more successful, Sebastian Deputy Chief Tim Wood said. “Before, officers had to investigate on foot, going door-to-door to find any possible witnesses,” he said. “Now they have some high-tech assistance when looking for clues.”

Not everyone, of course, loves the cameras. According to the ACLU, “the cloud Automatic License Plate Reader company Flock is building a dangerous nationwide mass-surveillance infrastructure. The problem with mass surveillance is that it always expands beyond the uses for which it is initially justified.”