MACON, Ga. — Bibb County Sheriff David Davis announced this week he wants to bring technology to Macon-Bibb that may help his deputies find cars linked to crimes and their owners.
Davis says his office applied for a state grant to install 150 FLOCK cameras around the county. It would add Macon-Bibb to a network of Central Georgia law enforcement agencies currently using the system.
Think of it like a Google image search but for police investigations. For example, deputies can use the system to look things up like 'Navy blue sedans' or 'Lime-green SUVs' if they suspect one was involved in a crime.
Thousands of cars travel Gray Highway every single day. Soon, they could be tracked.
"It registers a license plate and keeps a track of every vehicle that comes through," Davis said.
'It' is a FLOCK camera system, similar to other cameras in Warner Robins and Milledgeville. Davis says it may help them solve crimes, like an August shooting at the Harrison Road Walmart.
"Black car, possibly a Volkswagen Passat. But if we had a Flock camera there, we could go back and look through all the vehicles, run their tags, and maybe come up with some suspects that way," Davis explained.
Jaron Towery lives in Pike County and drives through Macon a lot.
"Visiting my pops, who's in the hospital here," he said.
Towery sees the good in the system.
"If there's a murder or a crime committed, they have the tag, that might be an easy way to find them," he said.
Towery worries it may be used for the wrong reasons.
"I don't think I need anybody checking on my tag for whatever reason, this or that," Towery said.
Sheriff Davis says that won't happen; this tool is for investigations only.
"It is an investigative tool for us to look at vehicles we may be looking for that may have been involved in criminal incidents," Davis said.
Davis says once the money comes through, they expect to start rolling out the system within a couple weeks.
He says they'll go to the county commission for it if they don't get the grant. Sheriff Davis estimates it would cost about $1 million to install the cameras over several years.