CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis, who just returned from a conference with local leaders and law enforcement from across the Commonwealth were sharing crime data with each other, told WINA’s Morning News there’s no question, “we are so far behind in this city when it comes to technology and the way we aggregate and bring together data.”
He said even though scrutiny of technological use by police — including the Flock license plate reader and Peregrine integrated data system – is not unique to Charlottesville, this community is indeed different.
“Warrenton’s going through it with the Flock conversation up there,” Kochis said of the town where he was chief before coming to Charlottesville. “There were people from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Richmond and other cities struggling with these things, and the data they’re using, the systems they’re using, one of which is Peregrine… they were connecting their data showing how many people served through the human services dashboard, looking at their crime dashboard, and connecting all this stuff.”
While Kochis has said he has a job to do and will do it within the parameters of those charged with making decisions and funding initiatives, that doesn’t mean he’s not sometimes frustrated.
“I have my opinions about why we’re that far behind, but I don’t see us getting ahead anytime soon when it comes to that,” he said.
Kochis noted Portsmouth, Norfolk, Richmond, Alexandria, and other localities that employ Peregrine and Flock technologies have progressive governments. In fact, some City Councilors at that conference expressed surprise that Charlottesville has suspended Peregrine for now and limited its Flock program.
“You know, I assume there’s a reason why our policymakers feel that way,” Kochis said. “And I don’t want to discount it because people have lived experiences, people have a reason why they feel that way, and so I respect that. We’re just different.”
One important thing to remember, Kochis said, is “policing is very local.”
“It’s got to be unique to your individual community,” he said.
Kochis talked about spending one day with Fairfax County’s police chief and getting a look at their real-time crime center with hundreds of Flock cameras as they’re preparing drone first-responders.
But Kochis said, “It really is about what your community expects, and that’s how this works.”
