After discussing the addition of Flock cameras over the past few months, the issue was not forwarded to Council’s agenda to be voted upon. It was also removed from the Council Safety Committee agenda.
The current Falcon cameras are part of a motion-activated system that takes two pictures of each vehicle. One picture captures the entire back end of the vehicle, allowing for vehicle type recognition. The second picture provides a close-up image of the license plate. The system runs the plates through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which is a database that would show active warrants, stolen vehicles and AMBER alerts. A specific vehicle’s make and plate that would be of special interest, such as a robbery, can be added to the system. The information is held in the cloud for a thirty-day period. 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.
North Royalton City Council approved the lease of the original ten Flock cameras in December, 2022. Those ten cameras cost the city $28,500 for the first year; then, a recurring $25,000 yearly. The initial lease contract was approved for a two-year period. On March 20 North Royalton Police Chief Keith Tarase proposed the addition of five cameras to the City’s ten Flock Falcon cameras at the Council Safety Committee meeting. Two of the cameras he requested at that meeting would be the same plate-reading cameras that would be added to the ten cameras already in place. The additional three Flock cameras he requested would be Flock’s Condor cameras, which are full surveillance, remote-controlled, live and recorded on-scene video cameras, for the intersection of Ridge Road and Rt. 82, Wallings and State Roads and the York Road ball fields. He asked for a two-year lease on the added five cameras, at a cost of $20,050 for the first year and $15,000 for the second year.
City Council continued discussion on the addition of Flock Cameras at the April 16 Safety Committee meeting. A representative from Flock gave a presentation on the Falcon and Condor cameras. At that meeting, Council decided to request legislation for the two plate reading cameras discussed. Several Council members said they wanted time to digest the information regarding the Condor cameras. Legislation for the Falcon cameras was expected to be introduced at the May 7 City Council meeting, according to Council Safety Committee Chairman and Ward 6 Council Representative Mike Wos. The legislation was not added to Council’s legislative agenda at that time, but remained on the Safety Committee agenda. At the May 21 Safety Committee meeting, the item was removed from that committee’s agenda without explanation from Tarase or Wos.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer