License plate reading cameras were the topic of discussion at the North Royalton City Council’s November 16 Safety Committee meeting. A presentation was given by the firm Flock Safety, a firm that started in Atlanta in 2017. These cameras are currently being used in Brunswick, Brooklyn, Independence and Westlake.
According to North Royalton Police Chief Keith Tarase, the North Royalton Police Department did test a plate reader that was installed in one of the squad cars about five years ago, but he said that it didn’t really work well. Currently, the North Royalton Police Department does manually check plates on cars that travel throughout the city, as they have always been allowed to do. The plates are run through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database and the Ohio Leads System
The Flock Safety System, like most of these types of systems, utilizes a Cloud-based technology. Tarase said that the motion-activated system takes two pictures of each vehicle. One picture would be of the entire back end of the vehicle, allowing for vehicle type recognition. The other picture would be a close up picture of the license plate. Although the picture is not delivered in real time, it would take only seven to fifteen seconds to read and alert police to potential vehicles in question.
The Flock Safety System would run the plates through the NCIC only, said Tarase, which is a database that would show active warrants, stolen vehicles and AMBER Alerts. A car make and plate can also be added that would be of special interest, such as a robbery. The information is held in the cloud for a thirty-day period. Tarase also indicated that the information retrieved by the systems could be accessible to other law-enforcement agencies, even if they are not currently utilizing the system in their own jurisdictions.
When asked what would be said to residents who feel that this technology and its future potential is too intrusive on residents’ privacy rights, Tarase responded, “I respect the privacy rights of our residents and would understand if they felt that this technology is or could be too intrusive. That can be said for just about any technology, especially that of cell phones which can be more intrusive and are practically carried by everyone everywhere they go. The purpose of this technology is for use in criminal investigations and its use should be governed by strong policy. It will be my responsibility to ensure that the use of this technology is not abused or does not violate the rights of our residents.”
The proposal suggested the City purchases twenty six cameras. Tarase said that sixteen of the cameras would be installed at all entry points into the City. The others would be spread out throughout North Royalton, probably concentrating on the northern section of the City. The Flock Safety System would initially cost the City an equipment fee of $250 per camera, then bill the City $2,500 per camera, per year. The City would also bear the electrical and any other costs to install the cameras.
Continued discussions about the cameras are expected at the next City Council safety meeting, which will be held in January 2022.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer