EAST BATON ROUGE - Three cousins were arrested mere minutes after deputies say they followed a school bus and shot a teenager as he got off it in East Baton Rouge Parish.

East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff's deputies took Cameron Williams, 19; Xavier Williams, 18; and Kriston Williams, 18, into custody in connection with a shooting at Brownfields Drive and Cooper Drive.

The sheriff's office said witnesses, along with a growing network of license plate readers, helped them quickly track down the suspect's vehicle.

Jonny Dunnam, former interim Baton Rouge police chief, said the system started years ago with just a handful of cameras and license plate readers. Dunnam is now the Executive Director of Capital Region Crime Stoppers and Vice Chairman of the Law Enforcement Criminal Justice Foundation, a nonprofit that helps with tools and technological advances for law enforcement. The nonprofit has helped BRPD and EBRSO get more than 100 cameras and license plate readers.

Dunnam said the license plate information is fed into the system and "they immediately hit on an officer's computer."

In the Sherwood Forest neighborhood, many residents bought their own cameras and license plate readers in 2020. Dunnam said crime dropped in the area as a result. He also credited the camera network for overall declines in crime in the city and parish.

"If you have an officer sitting looking at plates, he might get three or four done. These will do thousands in a few seconds. We've seen drops in crime due to specifically LPRs and crime cameras. We've seen numerous cases solved. Especially in East Baton Rouge Parish," said Dunnam.

Not everyone supports the technology. Chad Marlow, ACLU senior policy counsel, cited privacy concerns.

"Your data is being spread far and wide. Flock sends your data overseas to places like the Philippines to train their AI. Once your data is outside the United States, U.S. laws and the Constitution have a pretty hard time protecting it," said 

According to Flock Safety, the company behind cameras and plate readers in Baton Rouge, data is encrypted and typically stored for about 30 days before it is deleted.

Dunnam said the cameras and license plate readers are part of growing technological advances for law enforcement agencies in the Baton Rouge area, adding that deputies and officers are also expanding the use of drones and AI-powered cameras that detect when a weapon is drawn.