Title
Discussion of purchase and installation of stationary Flock Safety License Plate Reader cameras.
Body
Summary:
The Police Department has been considering the Flock cameras for several years, but have been waiting on the completion of the EOC/Dispatch Center. Flock gave the PD free access to its system about a year ago so we could use the cameras in La Porte, Pasadena, and others in the region for broader searches. We were notified February 1, 2024, that our free access will expire April 1, 2024. We are interested in having eight (8) camera installed at entrances to Deer Park in order to help catch criminals coming and going from our City.
Flock access has been a very valuable tool for officers who have run 671 searches in the last 30 days (1/20/2024 - 2/19/2024). A few of the results from these searches are below:
1. Armed robbery at Wal-Mart - From a vehicle description Huff was able to locate a matching vehicle in the area to obtain the license plate which led to the arrest of 3 robbery suspects.
2. Robbery at AT&T - Initial reports provided a license plate but further follow up showed that plate had been stolen from a car in Deer Park just prior to the crime. A Detective was able to track the vehicle through security cameras and find a possible route into the city which took them by one of Pasadena’s Flock cameras. The Detective then reviewed the captures and located the vehicle which had a fictitious plate. Additional Flock searches showed the suspect had been using the fictitious plate for at least a month prior to the offense and was using it again after the offense. Detectives then added the fictitious plate into Alerts and shared the alert with neighboring agencies. Within a few days the vehicle was located via the alert and stopped. The information obtained from the stop led to identifying the suspects and filing of robbery charges.
3. FSGI - Officers responded to a hit and run. After receiving the vehicle description an Officer ran various searches and found the vehicle via Flock. A follow up by the initial officer led to the identity of the suspect.
4. Fuel theft - Officers have taken two reports of an older tan Honda Odyssey van parking on top of the diesel tanks and siphoning off hundreds of gallons. With surveillance video the van was narrowed down to a 2002 Honda Odyssey with paper plates. An Investigator used this information to run various searches in Flock which led to one possible vehicle using a fictitious plate. The plate was given to the fusion center which was able to pull up other LPR scans and located scans from private companies which showed that vehicle at an apartment complex in Houston. This lead generated by Flock is still under investigation.
Fiscal/Budgetary Impact:
Funds for this project will be requested from the current CCPD budget in the amount of $29,200. We have sufficient funds in our CCPD Fund balance to make the purchase.
Recommended action
Discussion only in Workshop.