In his final act as Knox County Mayor, Glenn Jacobs signed an ordinance banning county government agencies from using Flock cameras and other automatic license plate readers (ALPRs).
The ordinance defines an ALPR as a “camera or imaging system capable of automatically capturing, photographing, scanning, reading, converting, or analyzing license plate information.”
Jacobs, whose term ended on Tuesday after eight years in office, said he wanted to leave office the same way he came into the position: fighting for people’s right to “live, work, and raise a family” without government interference and protecting their freedoms.
“Government should work for the people, not keep tabs on them,” Jacobs said. “I can think of no better way to close out my time as mayor than standing up for the freedoms that make Knox County such a special place to call home.”
The ordinance says ALPR systems “create a countywide surveillance infrastructure capable of continuously collecting information from passing vehicles regardless of whether criminal activity is suspected.”
The new ordinance reverses an agreement that Jacobs approved in 2020 between the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Flock Safety, which allowed the department to use five ALPRs at a cost of $13,750.
Jacobs said his opinion of the surveillance cameras changed after learning more about them, noting that the more he learned, the “more troubled” he became by them.
“There’s virtually no state or federal regulation protecting our privacy and protecting our civil liberties,” he said, according to WBIR.
New Knox County Mayor Betsy Henderson, who was sworn in on Tuesday, said she supported the county’s decision to ban Flock cameras.
“I’m thankful to the commission and all their hard work. Since that was last night and the swearing-in was this morning, I haven’t had a chance to talk to Sheriff Gibson yet, but I look forward to talking to him,” she said, according to WBIR.
With the ordinance passing, Knox County will need to remove 143 ALPRs it has within 30 days.
Knox County is the only local government in Tennessee to have banned ALPR cameras.
This week, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office paused its ALPR program.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
Photo “Flock Camera” by Julian Focareta. CC BY-SA 4.0.
