Flock camera on a pole. Photo provided.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
APRIL 5, 2022 | Two Georgia Tech graduates are making life better in Gwinnett and in the nation after developing a new way to fight crime. They uncovered a statistic – that seven out of 10 crimes involved a vehicle – and then tweaked a camera to capture the license plate of cars visiting an area, which has greatly reduced the crime rate where the cameras were installed.
Developing that camera was the idea of Garrett Langley, from Atlanta, and Matt Feury, from Marietta. Langley is the CEO of Flock Safety Company of Atlanta, and Feury is the CFO. Altogether the company, founded in 2017, has 350 employees, mostly in Atlanta, but strategically stationed around the country to install the systems.
Flock Safety is the first public safety camera system that has operations in 1,500 cities to capture objective evidence, make it actionable with machine learning, and deliver it directly into the hands of those who work to curtail crime. The company works with the whole community – neighborhoods, businesses, law enforcement, and elected officials — because it takes many people working together to make an impact on crime.
Two Gwinnett Community Improvement Districts, at Gwinnett Place and at Sugarloaf, have installed Flock cameras and have seen a reduction in crime. Recently Explore Gwinnett, funded by the Gwinnett County hotel-motel tax, announced plans to install Flock cameras at the hotels in the county.
That would mean approximately another 100 Flock cameras in Gwinnett. The cameras are leased for $2,500 per camera, so that would mean a cost to Explore Gwinnett of $250,000 a year.
Bruce Johnson of Explore Gwinnett says the ultimate goal would be to promote tourism in Gwinnett, making sure that Gwinnett remains a safe destination for visitors. With criminals often targeting parked cars at hotels, the Flock cameras provide details of which autos visited an area, so to help the police in chasing down cars involved in crime, or stolen vehicles. Johnson says: “This is not something residents often think about, but is taken care of in the background to help reduce crime. Criminals will soon learn that Gwinnett is not a friendly environment for crime.”
Garrett Langley and Matt Feury during Georgia Tech days. Provided.
The two Georgia Tech engineers started by creating a much smaller camera to capture the auto license plate numbers. Their camera was solar powered, so needed no electrical connection. There is also no internet connection, since the camera sends information via a cell phone. The upshot is that the Flock device is much cheaper and affordable than other similar systems on the market.
Installation is also relatively similar. The Flock team manufactures its own products, and a Flock team helps customers determine where to locate cameras, geographically, where the most vehicles pass.
Why the name of “Flock?” It’s the team’s idea that the cameras are all around certain areas, like a flock of birds, recording what is happening in that area.
From the time a Flock camera finds a car whose owner is wanted, or spots a stolen vehicle, police know this almost immediately. This information goes to all officers on patrol, as well as to supervisors.
Major Chris Rafanelli of the Central Police Precinct calls the Flock system a real game changer. “It’s a force multiplier, a move to data-driven assistance to law enforcement.”
He also notes that in the about two years that the Gwinnett Place areas have had Flock cameras, crime is down substantially. That includes commercial burglary down 37 percent; aggravated assault down 38 percent; robbery down 19 per cent; and entering autos down 14 percent.
And think too, there’s no local tax money involved. Visitors to Gwinnett help fund the Flock cameras.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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