Gov. Josh Shapiro said Pennsylvania State Police do not use Flock surveillance cameras. A competing camera company already operates on state roads in West Chester.

At an Aug. 28 press conference, Shapiro called for bipartisan legislation to ban the technology. "The Pennsylvania State Police does not use Flock Cameras, period," Shapiro said, adding that PennDOT does not allow them on its roadways.

Shapiro named Flock, a major national vendor. He did not mention VIPR.ai, an Exton-based license plate reader company that the West Chester Chronicle has been investigating since August. When the Chronicle asked the governor's office about VIPR.ai specifically, the office said State Police do not have a contract with the company.

That distinction matters locally.

The Chronicle's investigation found that the West Chester Police Department uses VIPR.ai's service even though the department also says it has no contract with the company. Every VIPR.ai camera the Chronicle identified in the borough sits on a traffic light post on a state road.

The "no contract" framing echoes a pattern the Chronicle first documented in an Aug. 17 report. That investigation revealed a five-year, $56,000 agreement for seven VIPR.ai cameras in West Chester, executed in November 2021. The borough has been paying about $11,200 per year. Yet when the Chronicle filed a Right-to-Know request in June, the borough said no contracts, invoices or purchase orders with VIPR.ai existed.

A WCPD policy issued by Chief Josh Lee on May 19 names VIPR as one of four approved license plate reader vendors.

Separately, a July 16, 2021, meeting brought then-Chief Jim Morehead, VIPR.ai founder Sean Petty and six senior WCPD members together to discuss the technology. Lee was listed as attending but told the Chronicle he does not recall the meeting.

The contradiction extends to the state level. During an Oct. 24, 2022, presentation to the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners, Petty told the commissioners his company had cameras in 20 Pennsylvania counties, including on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. "Certainly, the Pennsylvania State Police are our largest client and use our technology Commonwealth-wide," Petty said, according to the Chronicle's review of the meeting. Radnor authorized a five-year contract with Petty's firm that night for cameras at 11 intersections at roughly $56,425 per year, according to township meeting records.

Gov. Shapiro spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky provided a written statement to the Chronicle that addressed only Flock cameras, saying Commonwealth agencies "do not own Flock cameras and will not allow them to be used or installed on Commonwealth property." The statement did not address VIPR.ai or Petty's 2022 claim.

VIPR.ai retains license plate data for one year. Flock recently changed its default retention to seven days. Spotlight PA reported that at least nine bills have been introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature to restrict or ban the technology, seven in the six weeks before early September.

The Chronicle said it has followed up with the governor's office and will report when it learns more. No response from VIPR.ai or Petty has been reported.

West Chester Borough Councilwoman Lisa Kearns said in the Chronicle's Aug. 17 report that she thinks the issue deserves a public airing. Borough Council's next voting session is Sept. 16.