Neighborhood watch programs play a fundamental role in community safety. They act as the first line of defense in deterring crime and reporting suspicious activity. However, these programs are not all your community needs.

Most neighborhood residents don’t have the time or desire to remain home all day reporting potential nefarious sightings. They go to work or school, attend appointments, run errands and go on vacations, leaving ample opportunity for crime to strike. 

One easy way to bridge the gap between what a traditional neighborhood watch group sees and does not see is by installing license plate reading (LPR) cameras to aid in the effort to monitor the community.

Although there are many models to choose from, there is one company that law enforcement and neighborhood watch groups trust time and time again: Flock Safety.

Here is why Flock Safety cameras will be your neighborhood watch group’s new best friend:

Flock Safety Stops the Crime — Before It Occurs

Positioning Flock Safety LPR cameras at the entrances of your community will help police track down evidence and obtain leads fast in the event of a crime. And since the best deterrent to crime is the knowledge that the perpetrator will be caught, Flock cameras and accompanying signs will quickly become a clear warning signal to anyone looking to commit harm.

Flock Safety also allows neighborhoods to partner with local police to enable the Hot List function, which notifies local law enforcement as soon as a known wanted suspect passes the camera. This feature gives residents peace of mind, knowing that any time a suspect or stolen car enters the neighborhood, law enforcement will receive an automatic alert. 

Flock Safety Captures Unbiased Evidence for the Neighborhood Watch

Traditional neighborhood watch programs depend on everyday people to act as unbiased observers, but whether they know it or not, everybody has pre-developed notions that affect their thought processes and actions. In past cases, neighborhood residents have accidentally identified maintenance workers or delivery drivers as suspects after a crime.

Flock Safety LPR cameras provide wholly objective evidence. License plate reading cameras concern themselves with a vehicle, rather than a person, enabling a more ethical and fair investigation process.

No License Plate? No Problem.

Time after time, legacy LPR cameras fail to solve crime committed with a vehicle that has stolen tags, temporary license plates, or no license plates at all — a more common occurrence than you might realize. Additionally, many LPR systems are guilty of misreading plate numbers and overlooking suspects.

Flock Safety is different. Flock cameras use machine learning and our patented Vehicle Fingerprint™ technology to identify vehicles and deliver leads without tags. By filtering the vehicle search for a make, model, color or aftermarket feature, detectives can swiftly identify a suspect.

Flock Safety Enhances Home Security Cameras’ Effectiveness

Neighborhood watch members can even use existing doorbell cameras to help boost the effectiveness of Flock Safety’s Vehicle Fingerprint™ technology. Although the scope of a doorbell camera is limited to one small frame, they can provide vehicle descriptions that detectives can feed into the Flock system to generate leads.

This innovative investigative process may save precious time during serious investigations. In LaGrange, Georgia, Detective Jason Duncan’s case was able to use multiple streams of evidence and the Flock system locate a homicide suspect in just 12 hours.

Flock Safety is Affordable, Easy and Inconspicuous

Flock Safety LPR cameras reduce costs by leveraging solar energy and batteries for power, as well as using LTE (like your typical cell phone) for cloud storage.

Included in the single cost of the camera is installation and maintenance, making leasing an LPR camera effortless. As one HOA president put it “I really think Flock is the best company to deal with, it’s so easy — I don’t want to have to be worried about climbing up on a 15-foot pole to replace a camera, or paying someone to do it for me. That’s nuts.”

Give your neighborhood watch group the tools it needs by contacting Flock Safety today.