Flock cameras and other surveillance cameras became a topic of discussion during the Monroe County commissioners’ meeting on Wednesday when a Stroudsburg resident asked if the county is using them.

Flock is a company that states on its website that it is “a public safety technology company that builds connected camera, audio, and investigative systems to help communities respond to and investigate safety incidents using objective evidence.”

Its products includes license plate readers, video cameras, mobile security trailers gunshot and audio detection, drones and software.

Susan Dedrickson, of Stroudsburg, asked about the cameras, and Commissioner John Christy, chairman, said the county has security cameras in and around the courthouse and parking areas, and other buildings affiliated with the county, but not on the streets.

“Do you know who I would speak to about just general cameras?” Dedrickson asked.

Christy said, “If you look up you’ll see cameras all over.”

He explained that cameras are used by multiple organizations including the Borough of Stroudsburg, police departments, and the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau, for example.

“Where do I get information about the contracts, and what kind of contracts we have?” Dedrickson asked.

“You’d have to go to each individual organization that has cameras out there,” Christy said, to which Dedrickson asked if there is a list of these organizations.

“There’s no clearing house for contracts,” Christy said.

Dedrickson said she is concerned about privacy.

Christy said, “I understand but when I walk down the streets of Stroudsburg I know that I am on camera constantly whether I’m walking through the ally to get my haircut, or onto Main Street. I know that somebody has a camera that picks me up.”

Commissioner Sharon Laverdure suggested that Dedrickson reach out to her elected official at the state level.

“I don’t think there’s any specific regulation saying that any one person keeps those records,” Laverdure said. “It’s each individual borough, or township or organization.”

Also during public comment, Theresa Pesce, of Eldred Township, said she is concerned about who holds the data from the Monroe County Partnership for Gun Safety youth survey.

She also was concerned that the demographic questions could identify people in the small populations at the high schools.

Pesce said she appealed her Right-to-Know orders to Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and was told by the agency that “the fact that the D.A.’s Office does not have the requested records, which conceivably could have been created in pursuant to the county’s agreement with the Kerry Group is consistent with PCCD not having the records.”

Pesce added that the Kerry Group is a third-party vendor that is supposed to have the surveys and was hired to analyze the data.

“So with that said, nobody has the records,” Pesce said.

Tim Sanders, of East Stroudsburg, asked for more information about the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program.

The commissioners ratified the authorization to electronically submit the Fiscal Year 2025 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program for the period of July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.

Christy said the program involves legal resident aliens in the country, and asked grants manager Ashley Kerrick to provide further explanation.

Kerrick said it is “a reimbursement from the federal government to the county for housing them in a correctional facility.”

The county is expecting to receive about $50,000, which will be finalized after submission of the application.