A camera mounted on a pole at a major intersection in the Mount Desert village of Somesville is likely just a camera from the Maine Department of Transportation used to control the cycling of the traffic lights, according to Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Chief David Kerns.
It is not a Flock camera, the type of camera which captures vehicle information as those vehicles move past the cameras without drivers necessarily being aware. This had concerned multiple island residents.
According to Chief Kerns, “There are no cameras in Somesville or at that intersection that are capable of license plate or facial recognition.”
Nor have any cameras for law enforcement purposes been installed in this location.
However, there are approximately 90,000 Flock cameras in use across the country. They are funded by federal grants.
According to an article by Elizabeth Walztoni of the Bangor Daily News, “In particular, monitoring cameras such as those made by Flock and Verkada have been controversial elsewhere in Maine because of concerns that they might be used to track people without cause, and that federal immigration officials may have access to the information they collect.
“The Hancock County project uses different reader cameras, from Motorola Solutions, that record license plate numbers; local law enforcement says its policies will prevent the information from being used for immigration enforcement.”
“It’s really a tool for law enforcement to make sure we’re doing all we can, just because we can’t be everywhere all at once,” Kerns told Walztoni at the time.
She said that he described “it as an investigative resource rather than an effort to track or surveil residents.”
People who do not want the cameras in their communities — or other communities — have set up a website, Don’t Get Flocked, which details the cameras’ locations. It shows the Somesville camera on Mount Desert Island as well as another in Bangor.
Though that Somesville camera is not a Flock camera, there are reportedly Flock cameras in use on Mount Desert Island at undisclosed locations, but definitely not at that Somesville location.
Walztoni’s Bangor Daily News article says that “Bucksport is set to be one of the latest areas in the county joining a local network of police agencies that use such cameras, which are already online in Bar Harbor and Ellsworth.”
This story was originally published by The Bar Harbor Story. To receive regular coverage from the Bar Harbor Story, sign up for a free subscription here.
