LIVINGSTON — The Livingston Parish Council voted to prevent the installation of new Flock cameras and other similar devices along roads owned or maintained by the parish.

The decision to enact the new policy was unanimous.

Councilman Ryan Chavers' ordinance was passed at Thursday's meeting. It is the first such ordinance restricting the use of automated license plate reader cameras to be passed in a Louisiana parish. 

"It's an honor to be able to protect citizens' privacy," Chavers told WBRZ. "We want to make it very clear that the Livingston Parish government is not surveilling or using these cameras."

The ordinance prohibits new privately owned cameras from being installed on parish-owned land and rights-of-way, but does not require existing cameras to be removed. 

Chavers told WBRZ that the ban went into effect immediately. 

The councilman introduced the ordinance earlier this year, with the council voting on it in August without passing it due to additional changes the council wanted to see in the ordinance.

In August, Chavers said the goal is not to eliminate Flock cameras from Livingston Parish, just to keep them off parish property.

"We, as the government, have no dealings with these AI-generated cameras and we definitely want to make sure that your privacy is getting protected," Chavers said.

The revised and passed ordinance says that the owners of any of the cameras that were grandfathered into the new rule must submit the date of installation, as well as the brand and the number of cameras installed.

The new ordinance also gives the parish the right to remove any cameras that are newly installed after the ordinance went into effect Thursday.