Daphne Police Chief Brian Gulsby Defends Flock License Plate Cameras, Asks City to Add Four More After Vandalism, Isaias Damage

DAPHNE, Ala. — As license plate reader cameras face growing criticism across the country, Daphne Police Chief Brian Gulsby says the technology has been a “huge piece of the puzzle” in solving serious crimes and finding missing people on the Eastern Shore, and he wants the city to add more of them.

Gulsby has asked city officials to consider adding four Flock Safety cameras to the department’s system. The request was discussed at a Public Safety Committee meeting on Oct. 12. Because of the cost, any expansion would require approval from the Daphne City Council and the mayor. Gulsby said the cameras cost $3,500 apiece each year, and he does not know when a decision will be made.

What Flock cameras are

Flock Safety, based in Atlanta, makes and operates a range of visual and audio detection devices, including automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, and pan-tilt-zoom cameras. Its customers include law enforcement agencies, neighborhood associations and private property owners.

The company’s license plate cameras typically sit atop poles fitted with solar panels along roads and highways. They capture images of passing vehicles and read their license plates, allowing police to search for a specific tag, such as one linked to a stolen car, a wanted person or a missing person.

Over the past year, Flock and its cameras have come under increased scrutiny nationally. Critics and some community members have accused the systems of enabling mass surveillance, and the debate has led to protests and vandalized cameras in several parts of the country.

In Baldwin County, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Foley use Flock Safety cameras, and Daphne has also used them prominently along the Eastern Shore.

Daphne’s history with plate readers

Gulsby said the department began using license plate readers around March 2023. The city did not add Flock-brand license plate cameras until 2025, when it had four of them.

He said the department uses its cameras in two main ways: to flag a tag number when a person is missing or endangered, and in homicide investigations.

A missing Alzheimer’s patient

Gulsby described a recent case in which a man with Alzheimer’s disease took a friend’s car without the friend’s knowledge. He had been gone for about two hours before he was reported missing. Officers entered the car’s tag number into the system, which helped them locate the man and bring him home safely, Gulsby said.

Homicide investigations

Gulsby said license plate readers played a role in the department’s last two homicide cases.

• June 2023, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café: Gulsby said investigators used a license plate reader to quickly identify the suspect in a murder at the restaurant and arrested him in less than 12 hours.
• Easter Sunday 2024, Audubon Park: In a murder at the park, Gulsby said, a license plate reader was one of several tools investigators used to help identify a suspect.

How often officers search the system

Gulsby said the department can audit how officers use the cameras. An analytics audit covering the past 30 days, provided to the department by Flock Safety, showed Daphne officers used the Flock system 49 times, he said.

• Robbery suspects: 13 searches, the most common reason. Gulsby said many were tied to a “Facebook exchange type robbery” behind the AMC theater in Daphne about a month ago, when officers were trying to find a vehicle matching the suspect’s description.
• Vehicle theft: 12 searches related to a Corvette stolen from Terry Thompson Chevrolet a couple of weeks ago.
• Other searches: The remaining searches involved endangered persons, wanted persons and domestic violence suspects.

Gulsby said officers must have a case number to search the Flock system, which he called a stricter standard than for running a tag from a patrol car.

“We’re auditing them,” he said. “They have to have a case number, which is really more restrictive than just if they wanted to run a tag while they’re sitting behind a vehicle in a red light. They don’t need a case number for that. They can just reach over to their mobile data terminal and run the tag. They don’t even have to have a reason. We find a lot of wanted persons and people driving revoked and suspended doing that. Matter of fact, I heard them on the radio this morning arrest a guy who was wanted for failure to appear, driving revoked for multiple DUIs, so he had no business on the roadway.”

Privacy changes and data retention

Following months of public criticism, Flock Safety issued new privacy and accountability standards in August. The company reduced its recommended data retention period from 30 days to seven days, which Gulsby said is the retention period the Daphne Police Department uses.

Flock also introduced an “Evidence Mode,” which allows specific license plate reader data to be preserved in cold storage for active investigations rather than being deleted on the normal schedule.

Data retention is one of the central issues in the national debate over license plate readers. Privacy advocates argue that keeping location records of law-abiding drivers for long periods can allow detailed tracking of people’s movements. Shorter retention periods limit how far back records can be searched.

Cameras damaged by vandals and Hurricane Isaias

Gulsby said all four of Daphne’s Flock cameras were vandalized and damaged in July. Three of the four were damaged again in the aftermath of Hurricane Isaias, which struck the Gulf Coast earlier this month.

“Currently, we only have two cameras up and running, which really hampers our operations, especially if we’re looking for missing persons or endangered persons like our Alzheimer’s patient,” Gulsby said. “Not having those cameras when he was missing, all four of them were damaged and down at the time, and that hampered us looking for him.”

‘A force multiplier’

Gulsby said the cameras provide “investigative capabilities that we’ve never had before.” He pointed to a case in September in which a Kentucky state trooper was killed during a traffic stop and authorities used license plate readers to find the suspect.

“It’s all over the country,” Gulsby said. “Abducted children are being recovered, the missing, endangered Alzheimer’s patients. It’s occurring almost every day and people just don’t realize that. If you have a family member that has dementia and may wander off, especially in a vehicle, these are irreplaceable. You can’t have a police officer in as many places as you can put a license plate reader to look for a missing persons. Same with domestic violence suspects. We’ve had several where we’ve been on the lookout for an estranged husband or a stalker that we believe may possibly be en route to a victim’s house, so you plug that tag number into the system and it’s a force multiplier. Basically, you’ve now got police officers all over the place in the form of these license plate readers looking for this violent offender, and there’s really no replacement for this.”

Addressing misuse and misinformation

Gulsby acknowledged that some police officers around the country have misused the cameras, but he said there has been no misuse in the Daphne Police Department. He said only dozens of officers have been reported to misuse them out of the hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers nationwide.

He also said none of Daphne’s license plate readers use facial recognition technology.

“There’s a lot of misinformation out there and people that are getting their information about LPRs from off of social media. None of that is correct,” Gulsby said. “They don’t use facial recognition. They don’t tap into your phone’s Wi-Fi. None of those accusations people are making are accurate.”

Fairhope has not installed Flock cameras

In neighboring Fairhope, a resident asked city officials about Flock cameras during the public comment period of a City Council meeting on Sept. 29. Mayor Sherry Sullivan said the city has not chosen to install any on city property.

Sullivan said, however, that Fairhope cannot control whether such cameras are installed on county and state roads that run through the city. Agencies such as the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office or state law enforcement would have the authority to put them up along those routes.

The debate ahead

Daphne’s request comes as cities across the country weigh the investigative value of license plate readers against concerns about privacy, data sharing and oversight. Supporters point to cases like the ones Gulsby described, where a quick tag search helped find a missing person or a violent suspect. Critics argue that a growing network of cameras can track the movements of ordinary residents and that strong rules on access, auditing and retention are essential.

The decision on whether to add cameras in Daphne will rest with the City Council and the mayor as part of the city’s budget process.

Key facts

• Request: Four additional Flock license plate reader cameras for Daphne
• Cost: $3,500 per camera per year
• Current status: Two of four existing cameras working after vandalism in July and Hurricane Isaias damage
• Use in the past 30 days: 49 searches, led by robbery suspects (13) and a vehicle theft (12)
• Data retention: Seven days
• Approval needed: Daphne City Council and mayor