Council to revisit Flock cameras at island entry points
By Monique Batson and B. Scott Mc lendon
A Flock Safety license-plate- reading camera stands at the entrance to Laffite’s Cove on Eckert Drive in Galveston
GALVESTON -- About one month ago, a constituent of Councilman Alex Porretto had their car stolen. Within three hours, with the use of Flock surveillance cameras, the vehicle was located in Texas City.
“It’s a good force multiplier,” Porretto said. “It alleviates resources for our police. It’s been a hot-button issue, but if we can put them at entrances and see the results we get, we could expand it after that.”
Installing Flock cameras at the island’s three entry points has been a topic of discussion among the council since last year when the city in September voted to allow the police department to enter into a limited data-sharing agreement with the national surveillance company.
Council members are scheduled to revisit the discussion during a workshop at 8 a.m. Monday at Galveston City Hall, 823 Rosenberg St.
“I’d like to go ahead and get moving forward with the Flock cameras,” Porretto said. “I want people to feel safe, and I want our officers to have the resources to keep us safe, as well.”
Council members have long considered spending up to $35,000 to put the license-plate reading cameras at the island’s three entrances and exits: the I-45 causeway, the Galveston-Port Bolivar Ferry, 1000 Ferry Road, and the San Luis Pass Toll Bridge, 35930 Termini San Luis Pass Road.
About 4,000 cities across the country have bought the license-plate-reading cameras and linked their communities to the network authorities can access to track stolen cars and those used in the commission of a crime, according to the company.
There are already more than 130 Flock cameras in cities between Galveston and Houston, according to information from the Galveston Police Department. League City, Hitchcock, Texas City, La Marque, Dickinson and Friendswood all are utilizing Flock cameras.
About 4,000 cities across the country have bought the license-plate-reading cameras and linked their communities to the network authorities can access to track stolen cars and those used in the commission of a crime, according to the company.
“The only person that would not want these would be criminals, in my opinion,” Anthony Rogers, president of the Galveston Municipal Police Association, said. “There is nobody in our community or visitors to Galveston that need to be afraid of Flock cameras.”
Rogers referenced a recent case outside of Galveston where the surveillance cameras assisted police in finding a kidnapping victim.
“If it saves a kid’s life or helps us bring a murder suspect to justice it’s worth every penny,” he said. “I know that Councilman Porretto and Councilwoman Robb are pushing for this, and on behalf of our association we cannot possibly thank those two enough. It’s huge for us. We’ve been huge advocates for it, and we will continue to be huge advocates of it.
“There is nobody in our community or visitors to Galveston that need to be afraid of Flock cameras.”
Flock cameras only store license plate data for a few seconds to check plates against criminal databases, according to the company. Flock then stores that data on an Amazon cloud service for 30 days, according to the company.
Law enforcement agencies that buy into the program, however, could save that data and use it at their discretion, according to the company.
Porretto said, following Monday’s workshop, he hopes the item will be placed on the next possible council meeting agenda for potential approval.
1 comment:
Short story: Several years ago while working an LPR near Galveston, I got a hit on stolen car coming into Galveston. I radioed GPD Dispatch and confirmed that the stolen was active. I followed the stolen car into a nice neighborhood. It pulled into a private drive. An older man early 80's exited the vehicle. He told he was the then Chief of Police's brother in law. GPD pulled up behind me and the stolen vehicle. I verified the gentleman's ID and he wasn't wanted. It turns out that he borrowed the car from one of his employees to drive home for lunch. Here came the Chief of Police. He had been notified of his relative driving a stolen car. I told the responding officer that he could recover the stolen car and they could sort out the rest. I did claim the stat for grant purposes. (USA)
Post a Comment