Some residents in Henry County are questioning the recent deployment of a police surveillance technology, specifically cameras that read license plates.

Local reporting shows these cameras are common throughout Kentucky, and the data collected is reaching those outside the state.

Our John Lefler explains.

In November, Eminence police rolled out license plate readers known by their brand name flock.

Something this local woman says is uncalled for in her mostly quiet town.

They're collecting over 7000 license plate readers a day in a town of less than 2000 people.

It's excessive.

These cameras and other technology can speed up investigations, says the Henry County Sheriff.

So as citizens, you have to ask yourself if you're a victim of property crime, violent abuse.

If there is an amber alert of a kidnaped kid, a dementia patient.

That's wandered off.

Do you want us to have a tool to find those kids?

Anybody can go out here in the parking lot and look at a license plate.

No different than flocks doing.

Until the U.S.

Supreme Court rules that it's unconstitutional and they're usable, they're going to be used.

And they are a vital tool for law enforcement.

But Destinee Kelly worries using these tools could amount to overpolicing, which will target multiple communities that are often already targeted.

The eminence police chief says flock cameras are, quote, not used to map, track, follow or gather information on the routines and routes of the general public.

The local police policy is to use license plate readers only to investigate reported crimes involving a vehicle, including if a car was stolen or to find a missing person.

Police officers must confirm the vehicle matches an active case before pulling someone over.

Race and any other protected status are no reason alone to track a vehicle, and all images are deleted after 30 days unless needed for an active investigation.

But Kelly says local police are not necessarily the only ones accessing this footage.

We're not even selling or compiling our information for license officials.

We're compiling it for anyone that has the ability or the money to retrieve it from that system.

Aside from a possible data breach or private pay per view access, local reporting confirms law enforcement outside of Kentucky have access such data.

You know the software will do these audits where you can see every time someone search Louisville's database.

And it showed search is being conducted at Louisville data.

But the searches were from law enforcement elsewhere in Kentucky and and from across the country.

While law enforcement can collaborate across state borders, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting found police in Florida and elsewhere were using local data for immigration enforcement.

Something Louisville police don't investigate themselves.

Some state lawmakers have sought across the board guardrails on flock and similar systems.

State Senator Jimmie Higdon, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, proposed all police agencies purge data after 90 days.

And former state Senator Adrian Southworth, who spoke before Henry County's fiscal court, recently, had proposed cameras only be used with a search warrant.

Neither bill became law for Kentucky Edition.

I'm John Leffler.

Thank you, Jan, for that report.

These flock cameras are throughout Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green, and even smaller cities like Elizabethtown, Georgetown and Glasgow.