Former Crossville Mayor J.H. Graham III was enjoying a nice Valentine’s Day getting in a few rounds of golf.  When Mr. Graham got home (in another vehicle) he discovered his Lincoln was ‘gone’.  Indeed, thieves had stolen his car from his residence.  Mr. Graham told us he was extremely pleased with the quick response of the Crossville Police Department in ‘getting the word out’ on the theft.  Two days later, Mr. Graham’s Lincoln was located seven hours from Crossville in south Georgia by Newton Police using FLOCK SAFETY cameras. FLOCK is a camera system used by many neighborhoods and police that records license plates and vehicle descriptions directly and instantly to a database with tag numbers and cars on file for thefts, Amber Alert Child abductions and other purposes.    Once the FLOCK cameras detected Graham’s car and notified the law, Newton Georgia police followed Mr. Graham’s Lincoln to a gas station and promptly arrested two suspects for auto theft.  The car was in perfect condition with no damage at all. Mr. Graham said he is fascinated by the automatic license plate recognition system that helped in locating his car and hopes Crossville will implement the system in the near future.  We spoke to Crossville City Manager Greg Wood who told us that putting a FLOCK SAFETY camera system or a similar system in Crossville is actually on the agenda for discussion at the upcoming City Council retreat.

The FLOCK SAFETY camera system has been in the news lately because the newly designed Tennessee License Plates are difficult for the cameras to capture the image accurately enough to identify the actual text and numbers on the plate. State officials say they are looking into the matter and there may be a ‘redesign’ in the future of the license plates for that very reason.