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The Nicholasville City Commission met on Monday, December 12. In the meeting, the commission announced that Nicholasville had three FLOCK cameras, and would soon install 5 more for a total of 8.

FLOCK cameras are license plate readers, aimed at lanes of traffic. Although they are always recording, the only data that the Nicholasville Police Department receives are photos of license plates that have been flagged by Nicholasville Police Department (NPD). These photos can also capture the make, model, and color of the vehicle. License plates that are captured are cross-referenced with a list of license numbers that are associated with crimes.

The Lexington Fayette Urban County Government Installed 25 FLOCK cameras last spring. Recently, the LFUCG city council deemed the program successful and voted to increase Lexington’s amount to 100 FLOCK cameras.

On Wednesday, December 15, NPD officers received training on the license plate R=readers. The Lexington Police Department had specific guidelines for officers responsible for the FLOCK database. For example, license plate photos are only kept in its database for 30 days, and must only report their reasoning for using the system.

In other commission news:

• Since Commissioner Betty Black did not get re-elected, Mayor Sutherland announced that come January, the commission will agree on a new representative from the commission for the Comprehensive Plan Committee. This committee will begin meeting in January.
• The commission approved a new prohibited use ordinance for the B1 zone, which is the downtown business zone. The ordinance prohibits emergency shelters and homeless shelters from opening in Nicholasville’s downtown area.
• This is the last Commission meeting of December.