BOZEMAN — Are license plate readers like flock cameras becoming more popular?
Watch the full video below:
MTN News had several viewers reach out concerned about these cameras at the Lowe's location in Bozeman.
"That's my personal information," said one shopper in the Lowe's parking lot. "They don't need my personal information for anything."
Allen Striegel was pulling into the Lowe's parking lot in Bozeman to pick up lumber.
"If it was for their own security reasons, and they erased it after a certain period of time, I wouldn't have a problem with that," he said.
Striegel said the problem he would have is if companies are keeping the information they get from flock cameras.
What exactly are flock cameras? According to the the Flock safety website, a flock camera is a "license plate reader camera built to identify vehicle details that may help generate investigative leads."
MTN reached out to Lowe's for a comment, but they did not provide information on why or how they use them.
Striegel said he was unaware there were flock cameras in the Lowe's parking lot, so MTN asked him if he will reconsider shopping anywhere with license plate reader cameras.
"I would if there were other places that didn't have those cameras."
According to Montana Code, the use of license plate readers are prohibited. The deputy chief of the Bozeman Police Department, Joseph Swanson, said the department has never considered using flock cameras.
However, private companies, like Lowe's, can use them.
"If it's within their property lines, then they are allowed to do that," said Swanson.
Swanson added that state and local law enforcement can use license plate readers as well in certain situations.
"Operation of a license plate reader by law enforcement and access to data collected by a license plate reader operated by a law enforcement agency must be used for official law enforcement purpose," he said.
According to the deputy chief, those purposes are: "To scan, detect, and identify a license plate number for the purpose of identifying a vehicle" that is stolen, associated with a wanted or endangered person, or registered to a person who has an arrest warrant.
Striegel has one last message to share from the Bozeman Lowe's parking lot.
"If I can see it in public and I have a camera, I can record it," he explained. "There's no restrictions on that, but I'm not gathering people's information and storing it somewhere."
