Police Department hosts Flock Safety camera forum

January 23, 2025
Bartlesville Police Chief Kevin Ickleberry and Capt. Daniel Elkins, 11th Judicial District Attorney Will Drake and representatives from Flock Safety Camera Systems present information about the City’s Flock Safety camera system at a public forum held Jan. 16 at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

Bartlesville Police Department hosted a forum on Jan. 16 to share information about the City’s Flock Safety camera system — a camera system that reads license plate information and has helped law enforcement agencies across the nation save lives and fight crime.

The Bartlesville system was approved by the City Council in August 2024 and has been in place since September 2024. The forum was scheduled to address concerns expressed by newly elected council members and some Bartlesville residents.

Flock cameras are in more than 5,000 communities across the nation. The cameras are motion detected and aimed at the rear portion of the vehicle to read license plate information, which can then be used by law enforcement

“These cameras serve as an investigative tool that helps us solve crimes and prevent criminal activity,” said Police Chief Kevin Ickleberry.

Ickleberry points to two cases where Flock systems played an instrumental role in locating two Bartlesville children who had been taken from the area unlawfully, in addition to other instances.

  • On July 7, 2024, the body of 38-year-old Alexander Daugherty was discovered in an alley in Bartlesville, the apparent victim of a shooting. A police investigation resulted in the identification of a person of interest, who was eventually located through the use of Flock cameras in Wichita, Kan.
  • On September 16, 2024, BPD officers responded to a reported kidnapping in east Bartlesville involving the abduction of a 4-year-old child. Armed with a vehicle description and direction of travel, law enforcement agencies immediately initiated efforts to locate the suspect, the child’s biological father, and requested an Amber Alert. Just a short time later, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol located the vehicle, suspect and child in Rogers County thanks to an image of the vehicle caught on Flock Safety camera systems.
  • On December 10, 2024, BPD officers responded to a missing person’s report involving a juvenile female who had gone with her step-father to Kansas to pick up a grocery item. Concern arose when the girl’s mother was unable to reach them, as calls to their phones went straight to voicemail. A cellphone ping of one of the devices revealed a location in Nowata County; however, Nowata County Sheriff’s Office deputies were unable to locate anyone at the specified location. As a result, the juvenile female was officially entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database as a missing person. On Dec. 11, 2024, Flock camera systems identified the vehicle in Laredo, Texas. BPD collaborated with the Laredo Police Department and Homeland Security to locate the girl and suspect, who were ultimately found before crossing the Mexican border.
Detective Jason White of First 48 and Tulsa Police Department shares information at the Flock Safety camera system forum. “It’s the best thing I’ve seen in my career, and I’ve been a cop for 26 years,” White said of the system.

“These are very serious situations where the ability of law enforcement to act quickly was of the utmost importance,” Ickleberry said. “All three instances show that the use of Flock camera technology is proving to be an invaluable tool in supporting law enforcement in our mission to remove criminals from the street and better protect our citizens and communities.”

Flock cameras are currently in nine locations in Bartlesville, with a 10th camera to be installed soon. All information captured by the system is owned by the City of Bartlesville/Police Department. The information captured can only be accessed by BPD ranking command staff and one longtime dispatcher. All inquiries must be explained and are audited monthly to ensure the system is not being abused. Information is automatically deleted after 30 days.

The public can monitor the number of vehicles detected by the system, number of searches and other information by using the Bartlesville Police Department’s Transparency Portal at https://transparency.flocksafety.com/bartlesville-ok-pd-

For more information about this system, see Flock Safety Camera FAQs