DALLAS — When violent crimes are committed, the Dallas Police Department says, most of the time, there are vehicles involved.
And that’s why they say these cameras -- called Flock cameras -- mounted on poles across the city are helping them solve crimes and catch violent suspects.
”It’s a game changer for us. It’s an absolute game changer,” Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said.
There are 165 Flock cameras across the city. They are reading license tags 24 hours a day.
Pictures taken by Flock cameras are sent to the Dallas Fusion Center and then sent out to officers in real time.
”We are able to identify suspect vehicles that have been recently involved in a shooting or been used in a kidnapping. Info entered into the system, and we are able to identify those vehicles if they pass through those areas in the city,” said DPD Maj. Stephen Williams.
Since the cameras were installed and put to use in June 2022, Dallas police say they have recovered 221 stolen vehicles and made 130 arrests, and in many of those arrest, police say they have found drugs and guns.
”We have to let people know it’s out there and the criminal element know it’s out there. That it’s not going to be easy to commit violent acts in the city of Dallas without the men and women in the Dallas police Department tracking you down,” said Garcia.
And now the technology is being added to every squad car, so officers on patrol are getting information on all the vehicles they come across.
No longer will officers have to call in a plate to see if the car is stolen or wanted. It just pops up on their screens.
”We have limited resources and we have a piece of hardware that does it much faster than an individual can and does it much faster for us,” Williams said.
Dallas police say they are only looking for violent criminals and stolen cars and not looking for people with things like traffic warrants and the information is only stored for 30 days and then deleted.
The cameras do not capture images of people in vehicles, only the tags.
They say these cameras are about catching violent felons and making Dallas safer.