RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WGNS)- More than 260 automated license plate readers have been reported across Rutherford County, according to data compiled by the volunteer-run DeFlock project.
DeFlock currently lists 262 automated license plate reader, or ALPR, cameras within Rutherford County. That is the third-highest reported total among the 78 Tennessee counties tracked by the organization and accounts for about 7.2% of all cameras reported by DeFlock statewide.
The organization says its numbers are based on cameras mapped and reported by volunteers, meaning the count should not be viewed as an official inventory from local government or law enforcement agencies. Cameras may also have been installed well before they were added to the database.
The number has been changing quickly. DeFlock's Rutherford County page showed dozens of cameras added to its database over the past month, though the group notes those additions represent newly reported cameras and do not necessarily indicate that the cameras themselves were newly installed.
According to DeFlock, Rutherford County ranks 486th out of 3,222 U.S. counties for the number of reported cameras per resident, placing it within roughly the top 23% nationally. The organization calculates approximately 5.18 reported cameras per 10,000 residents in Rutherford County.
For comparison, DeFlock currently reports 132 cameras in neighboring Wilson County, 31 in Bedford County, four in Cannon County and 89 in Williamson County.
Automated license plate readers are different from traditional red-light or speed-enforcement cameras. Systems such as those manufactured by Flock Safety photograph passing vehicles and record information including the license plate, time and location. The information can then be searched by participating law enforcement agencies during investigations.
The technology has increasingly become part of a national debate over the balance between crime-fighting tools and personal privacy. Law enforcement agencies have credited ALPR systems with helping locate stolen vehicles, wanted suspects and missing persons, while critics have raised concerns about the amount of vehicle-location data being collected and how broadly that information can be accessed or shared.
DeFlock describes itself as an open-source project tracking automated license plate readers across the country. Its national database currently contains more than 140,000 reported ALPR cameras, including several thousand in Tennessee.
Residents can view the Rutherford County data and interactive camera map through DeFlock's website. Because the project relies on volunteer reporting, the number of cameras shown can increase or decrease as new locations are submitted or previously reported cameras are removed.
