Edison Council Approves Flock Tech Expansion, Including Thermal Drone

EDISON, NJ — Edison Council has approved expanding the police department's use of Flock Safety technology, adding license plate readers at every entrance and exit point in town and a drone with thermal imaging, despite one councilman's privacy objections.

The council approved Resolution R.512-092026 on Wednesday by a 6-1 vote, authorizing the purchase from Flock Group Inc. through a national cooperative purchasing contract. The resolution states the cooperative contract is expected to save the township money compared with a separate public bid.

Police Chief Thomas Bryan said the program will be paid for with asset forfeiture money, not taxpayer funds.

Mayor Sam Joshi said the license plate readers will instantly identify any stolen vehicle entering or passing through town, and the drone can reach any location in Edison within 45 seconds. Its thermal technology can be used in missing persons, missing pets and fire calls, he said.

"Our goal is to bring home invasions, burglaries, and auto thefts down to ZERO," Joshi said in a statement.

Edison is installing around 90 Flock cameras and will be the first in New Jersey to use a Flock drone with thermal technology, News12 NJ reported.

The township has used Flock license plate readers since 2022, and the council renewed the existing contract a few months ago. The chief said the system has helped the department solve crimes committed by people from out of town.

"The national average to close out these crimes is about 12 to 13 percent," he told council. "We were for quite a while at like 78 percent. Now we're up nearing like 92 percent."

Councilman Richard Brescher said he could not support the resolution.

"I don't like the Flock cameras," Brescher said. "I think they're very, very effective, but just having Big Brother watch over us is a problem I have with being a citizen of the United States."

He said the money could instead pay for two police officers to address speeding and other quality-of-life issues, and questioned the need for a drone in a suburban town.

Councilman Ajay Patil said the technology helps police cover a large town like Edison.

"I'm always a fan of adopting the technology, not to replace the human being, but to bring the efficiency in the system," Patil said.

Councilman Asaf Shmuel said, "I think we're catching criminals with Flock cameras."

Meanwhile, Council President Joe Coyle dismissed privacy concerns.

"Big Brother's been watching for a long time, and this is not anything new," Coyle said. "If you decide to come through our town without a license plate, without a registered vehicle, we're going to know you're here."

Coyle said the technology could help find lost children and deter burglars who break into homes to steal car keys.

Flock runs a national network that lets police search for vehicles far beyond their own town's borders, and many cities have found their data was shared more widely than they knew, including with federal agencies, NPR reported. ICE has reportedly asked local police to run thousands of Flock searches on its behalf, according to the news outlet.

More than 50 cities and counties have canceled or turned off their license plate reader cameras so far this year, Politico said.

In New Jersey, license plate data is kept for three years, longer than in most states, said Dillon Reisman, a staff attorney for the ACLU of New Jersey. He also said the state has no law placing reasonable limits on police drone use.

Amid the backlash, Flock recently cut its default data-retention period from 30 days to seven, ABC News reported.

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